


Exodus Academy for the Mythical and Magically Inclined [Interactive Story on AFF]

by kamariaaelfgar9



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Academy, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Creatures & Monsters, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - High School, Basketball, Blood Drinking, Compulsion, Dirty Jokes, Djinni & Genies, Dragons, Elemental Magic, Elves, Eventual Romance, Fae & Fairies, Fairy Tale Elements, Falling In Love, Family History, Fantasy, First Meetings, Flirting, Flying, Football | Soccer, Friendship, Friendship/Love, Ghosts, Grim Reapers, Guitars, Healing, Ice Powers, Immortality, Interactive, Kitsune, M/M, Magic, Musical Instruments, Mythical Beings & Creatures, Nymphs & Dryads, Phoenixes, Reader-Interactive, Romance, Roommates, Royalty, School, Shinigami, Sparring, Students, Supernatural Elements, Teasing, Thunder and Lightning, Tickle Fights, Tickling, Vampires, Warlocks, Water, Werewolves, Witches
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-26
Updated: 2019-09-29
Packaged: 2020-10-28 10:43:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 25,195
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20777258
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kamariaaelfgar9/pseuds/kamariaaelfgar9
Summary: Hidden deep within the dense forests of Southeast Asia, far from human eyes, Exodus Academy for the Mythical and Magically Inclined welcomes students, new and old, to the beginning of another academic year. With centuries of rich history and an impressive reputation, Exodus offers up a wide range of academic and physical programs catered to the individuals within its diverse student body. Whether a vampire or a kitsune, Exodus can provide the necessary tools needed to integrate one’s self into the rapidly developing human world.Follow the new experiences of young phoenix Chanyeol and vampire Prince, Kim Jongin as they navigate the stresses of class and the challenges of living among so many different creatures.Their fate is in your hands.





	1. "Welcome to Exodus Academy!"

**Author's Note:**

> First off, I have never before attempted what I am about to attempt with this story.
> 
> I have been considering building an interactive story for some time now and I decided to focus on OT12 EXO as my characters.
> 
> There are a few possible ways for the story to end based on the choices of our main characters. With this story, you the reader will be the one deciding on what happens next. At the end of each chapter there will be a poll that allows you to vote for one of the options listed. The poll will dictate what our main characters choose to do next and the story will carry on from there. Which means you decide the ships as well.
> 
> Due to this step by step process, updates will not follow a clear schedule as I will not begin writing the next chapter until the poll option is determined. Please bear with me.
> 
> Hopefully this works out!
> 
> Please join me on this journey! I am excited for the outcome!
> 
> Polls can be found on AFF at https://www.asianfanfics.com/story/view/1374885. I'll post the chapter link after every chapter so you can go participate in the vote!

Already this was grander than anything Chanyeol could have imagined and he had only been on the grounds for about five minutes.

He had pretty much only seen the courtyard, which had a huge fountain in the middle that was pretty to look at, but made Chanyeol instinctually avoid it. He absolutely hated water. Fire and water just didn’t mix. He was now in the large lobby of the main building on campus – an open concept room with lots of glass windows and pieces of coloured stone decorating the floor. Chanyeol couldn’t see what the mosaic was of with all of the people that were currently standing on it, but it was probably beautiful. He was amazed, but honestly, it didn’t take a lot to impress the young phoenix.

Golden eyes alight with wonder, Chanyeol couldn’t stop moving – turning this way and that in order to see everything he could. It was as if he still couldn’t believe that he was going to be living on this campus from now on and he needed to absorb as much of its splendour as he could in that moment.

Exodus Academy certainly looked as prestigious as its reputation made it out to be. It was the only institution of its kind – offering up specialized training and teaching to students of the supernatural and magical variety. It allowed creatures like Chanyeol to learn about the history of their species, as well as other species – something that he wouldn’t normally be able to do since phoenixes were primarily solitary creatures. This academy would also allow Chanyeol to safely practice his powers and shapeshifting abilities. That was the main reason he had enrolled.

According to the older phoenix who had recommended the school to Chanyeol, Exodus was established by a very powerful warlock, who the students referred to as Headmaster Sun. Chanyeol didn’t know an awful lot about him, but he was held in high regard in these parts. Since the building of the academy, creatures of all kinds were becoming more tolerant towards each other and were more effectively integrating themselves into the ever growing human population. The phoenix would join them once he had learned all that he could.

But for now, Chanyeol would attend classes with a whole variety of other creatures and train with other fire using beings. He was giddy from the mere thought.

“Welcome to Exodus Academy!”

Startled out of his daydreaming, Chanyeol looked towards the woman seated behind a small table. While being distracted by the décor, he had made it to the front of the line for new students. If he had to guess, Chanyeol would say the woman was an elf of some sort. Pointed ears were peeking out from beneath long blonde hair, a signature for the species.

Within the large lobby, students were lining up to receive their class and dorm information. New and old students of all species were mingling within the marble room, the excitement and nervousness almost tangible.

“Can I get your name and species?”

Chanyeol gave her the necessary information and was handed his schedule, a map, his dorm key and a small folder full of brochures that were advertising clubs and events happening on campus. The young phoenix had so much to consider he felt a little overwhelmed. This was entirely a new experience for him.

Turning away from the table to allow the next person to move up, Chanyeol suddenly collided with another body and being the very ungraceful bird that he was, he dragged the other person to the decorated floor with him.

The stranger he had crashed into let out a rather colourful expletive and Chanyeol scrambled to detangle himself from the other male. Once kneeling next to him, Chanyeol bowed, apologizing profusely.

The stranger settled two very irritated red eyes on the young phoenix. He was dressed in a rather expensive looking suit and even had a small pocket square. “Do you not watch where you walk?” he snapped, flashing two pearly white fangs as he scowled.

_A vampire_, Chanyeol’s mind immediately supplied, a little hesitant in that classification. He recognized the signature crimson irises and sharp canines key to the species, but this guy’s skin was rather tanned for a vampire. Perhaps he was something else?

“I’m really sorry,” the phoenix said in a rush, getting to his feet and immediately holding out a hand to help up the other male. “I’m not used to crowds.”

The vampire huffed but accepted the hand, pulling himself up with Chanyeol’s help. “Clearly.”

Chanyeol held fast to the other male’s hand, turning the helpful grip into a handshake. “I’m Chanyeol. I’m a phoenix and a new student here. It’s nice to meet you.”

The vampire seemed to have been caught off guard by the phoenix’s sudden introduction for he just stared at the taller, red-headed male for a long moment. He didn’t even try to pull his hand away from Chanyeol’s excessive handshake.

“You’re a vampire, right?” Chanyeol prompted when the other seemed to be at a loss for words. He didn’t want to lose this opportunity to make a new friend, even if that friend was made after falling to the floor.

The vampire seemed to recover, smoothly tugging his hand out of the phoenix’s grip and making sure he still had all of his belongings. With the other male checking over the folder in his hand, Chanyeol was reminded of his own folder and looked down to see if he had dropped anything. Sure enough half of the brochures he had been given were strewn across the purple and black stones. As per usual, he had made a mess.

Chanyeol dutifully crouched down to pick them up, mumbling excuse me’s every so often as people moved around, stepping on some of the papers in the crowded room. He almost got his hand stepped on by a hoof once or twice. By the time he had finished getting everything back in order and was upright again, the vampire was gone. Frustrated with being ignored and still not wanting to let a potential friend go – he had never met a vampire before either – Chanyeol scanned the room for a head of white hair. It was fortunate that he was so much taller than most of the people in the vicinity.

The vampire could move quickly but the bundles of other students within the room slowed him down quite a bit. Chanyeol caught sight of him heading towards the large floor to ceiling windows that made up one wall of the lobby. The phoenix moved in that direction, narrowly missing another collision with a centaur as he twisted around other students, eager to catch up to his target.

“You never answered my question!” Chanyeol called as a way of getting the vampire’s attention.

It was successful for the white-haired male did turn towards the phoenix when he spoke. A look of annoyance crossed the other male’s handsome features when he realized who it was, but he did stay in place this time at least.

“My name is Kai.” The lack of denying Chanyeol’s previous observation probably meant that he was indeed a vampire.

A wide smile stretched across the phoenix’s face in response. Finally they were getting somewhere. “Are you a new student too?”

This question was met with just a nod.

“Do you want to explore with me?” Chanyeol asked, gesturing to everything around him with large hand motions. “There’s so much to see. We could go to the dorms, or we could go check out the training grounds, or we could go get something to eat at the cafeteria?”

He spoke in a rush, listing off everything that came to mind in a long continuous sentence. He was afraid his new friend would run off again if he didn’t talk fast enough.

It wasn’t every day that Chanyeol got to interact this much with another being, so he was a little excited to hold onto the first person he could find. The phoenix had also never met a vampire before and had only heard a few stories about the influential pure blood vampire families. He wondered what class his new friend was a part of. Actually, Chanyeol wondered a lot of things, but he figured starting out with something simple like walking around campus would be better than firing a barrage of questions at the other male.

Everything else would come with time. Chanyeol had many, many days to get to know his new friend and to make more friends.


	2. "You Live in a Lamp?"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chanyeol and Jongin head to the dorms and meet their respective roommates.

Jongin didn’t quite know how he got to this point. He had only showed up to the orientation day to be able to get the necessary documents and his dorm key. He was only planning on interacting with the person handing out the things he needed. The young vampire wasn’t anticipating the collision with another student and then being followed by that student.

Being born into a family of a pure blood had Jongin rather used to being followed around and given too much attention. He was just hoping for the opposite upon being forced to attend this academy by his parents. His entire life leading up to this point was moulded by tutors and servants. But once he turned one-hundred-and-fifty, Jongin’s parents suddenly got the bright idea to send their precious son to the equivalent of a slightly higher class public school.

Jongin was hoping to get through his time at Exodus Academy hidden in the shadows.

Unfortunately, the lack of coordination of a certain phoenix had Jongin’s first day more eventful than he anticipated or wanted. Chanyeol was a very persistent bird and Jongin figured giving in would prove to be less of an annoyance than having the giant red-head constantly looking for him.

It seemed Chanyeol either didn’t notice or didn’t care that Jongin was showing little interest in getting to know him. The phoenix just kept talking and when it became apparent that the vampire wasn’t going to answer his question about touring the campus grounds, Chanyeol decided for the both of them.

“We should check out the dorms first and unpack our stuff. Do you have anything?” the phoenix asked, giving Jongin a once over, as if checking if the vampire had any luggage with him.

“My possessions are on their way,” Jongin supplied as a vague answer. He had been dropped off earlier in order to attend the orientation and become familiar with the school grounds. His servants had still been packing when he had left so they would probably arrive later.

“Oh, okay. I just have this,” Chanyeol explained, lifting his shoulder to draw attention to the backpack slung over his one shoulder. Jongin was kind of curious as to how the guy could fit everything he needed into one bag. The vampire had enough clothing to fill at least four suitcases.

“We should still check out our rooms. Maybe we’ll meet our roommates too.” An easy grin stretched across Chanyeol’s face and he tilted his head to the side, clearly as a sign to lead the way.

Jongin resigned himself to the fact that he would have to put up with Chanyeol’s presence a little longer. At least once they made it to the dorms, he could split off with the excuse of checking out his own room. They couldn’t possibly be roommates, could they? The likelihood of that was incredibly low, right?

They began moving through the crowd of people still populating the lobby of the main building, keeping to the sides of the room where there were less bodies. Once they were out of the building and into the open space of the courtyard, Jongin started up a less than leisurely pace, intent on getting to the dorms quickly. Chanyeol was able to keep up with those long legs of his and he kept up the conversation as well.

“Are you in the North or South Wing?”

Jongin glanced down at his dorm key to check. “North.”

“Me too! What room?”

Shit.

“179.”

“Aw, I’m in 61.”

Jongin tried not to let the relief show on his face. He may not have been the most pleasant of people, but he had manners.

Earlier when the vampire had slipped away from Chanyeol, he had been looking at the map so he already had an idea of where to go to find the dorms. There was a long paved path leading from the courtyard to the other side of the campus where both the north and south wings of the dorms were located. They passed the campus shop on the way and Jongin could see the large Athletics Center just behind it and a body of water just beyond that. The campus was rather large, with wide open spaces of grass and big facilities that seemed to have been built rather recently. Jongin wondered if the school upgraded often seeing as it had been around for over a century but the architecture – save for the outer structure of the main building – was modern.

Chanyeol had started chatting at some point but Jongin wasn’t really listening. He was too busy watching the students that were entering and leaving the set of doors they were approaching. He had been taught quite a bit about the world of magic and the mythical as a child so he felt pretty confident in recognizing the different species.

Two students stepped out of the building, both female and passed by them. Their eyes – one with brown and the other with gold – were on Jongin, very clearly admiring him with their gazes. Jongin guessed that the one was a witch since she looked entirely human and the other was a kitsune, being that she had fur ears atop her head and a fox-like tail curling from behind.

Jongin smirked briefly in their direction, acknowledging their looks before coming up to the dorm doors. Chanyeol stopped talking as a male student pushed open the doors and stopped short upon laying eyes on the two of them. His dark eyes settled on Jongin the longest, his eyebrows drawing in a little into almost a look of confusion before he realized he was standing in the doorway still. He moved out of the way but not before glancing back at Jongin once more. His eyes met with the vampire’s and Jongin watched as the guy seemed to literally step into a void of shadows that licked at his body before consuming it entirely. The shadows dissipated soon after his body vanished and Jongin was left slightly gaping at empty air.

Apparently Chanyeol had been watching too for he let out a loud gust of air. “Did you see that? That was so _cool_.”

The vampire wasn’t impressed in the same sense that Chanyeol was. Instead he was perplexed. That student had just walked through shadows which was a thing pure blooded vampires could do – Jongin was still mastering the ability – but that guy didn’t smell like a vampire. In fact, Jongin couldn’t smell him at all.

“Kai? Hey, you alright?”

Jongin turned his attention to Chanyeol when the phoenix called his name. He nodded and went inside first. There really wasn’t any use dwelling on that mysterious student. Perhaps he was just a species Jongin wasn’t familiar with.

There were a few plush armchairs lining the front room with little wooden tables in between the chairs. On the left side there was a little room with a window sized opening and a counter, posters of all sorts stuck to a bulletin board right next to it. There was a guy at the counter – a cyclops judging by the single eye that rested on both Chanyeol and Jongin as they entered. He waved them over and jumped right into a practiced speech, his tone entirely void of emotion.

“Welcome to Exodus. This is the North Wing dorms. There are four floors, each one equipped with a small kitchen, a common room and public bathrooms and showers shared among the students on that floor. Each student is required to take on at least one task when it comes to cleaning the common rooms. Sign up on this list by the end of the week. You’ll be sharing responsibility for your bedroom with your roommate. Each room is shared between two students.” He leaned over the counter and tapped on a list that was pinned to the bulletin board. It had various cleaning duties listed with students’ names already written beneath some of them. “What’s your room number?”

Chanyeol held up his dorm key first, the numbers six and one boldly printed on it.

“You’re on this floor. Head down the hall and turn right when you can. Your room is at the end of that hall.”

The phoenix adjusted his bag on his shoulder and grinned at Jongin, raising a hand in an enthusiastic wave. “I guess I’ll see you later, then?”

Jongin lifted his hand as a half-hearted farewell and watched for a moment as Chanyeol headed down the hall and disappeared around the corner. The vampire turned back to the guy behind the counter and showed him his own dorm key. He was given his own set of instructions and sent on his way. Room 179 was on the top floor so Jongin had to climb a couple flights of stairs at the end of the hall before heading down another hallway and finally to his room. It was going to be irritating having to lug his stuff up so many steps once it finally arrived. Good thing he had servants to help.

Using his key to open the door, he stepped inside and briefly checked out the layout of the room as he removed his shoes at the door. It was quite spacious with two twin beds pressed up against opposite walls, each with their own side table and lamp. There were two wooden desks as well, each with its own wheeled chair and shelving unit. There were even two large wardrobes, both set up on opposite sides of the room. The layout made it clear whose side of the room was whose and one side seemed to have already been claimed. The bedding was more personalized – a neutral black and white psychedelic pattern – and there were things all over the desk and thrown over the back of the chair.

“You must be my roommate,” a voice spoke up and Jongin’s eyes followed it, having not noticed the body that was mostly hidden on the other side of the one bed. The voice belonged to a guy. He stood taller than Jongin when he pulled himself up out of the beanbag chair he had thrown in the corner next to his bed.

“I’m Oh Sehun,” he introduced himself, moving around the bed to address Jongin properly, his hand outstretched in greeting. “I’m a djinn.”

The guy had an elaborate mess of pale pink hair atop his head and his eyes were brown like a sparrow’s wings. The hair wasn’t even the most startling thing about him. Sehun seemed to like lounging around his room shirtless, showing off the flashy jewellery he had adorning his body. Besides the many studs, hoops and chains he had dangling from his ears, Sehun also had golden hoops stuck through both his nipples and a diamond stud shaped like a teardrop dangling from his naval.

Jongin took his hand politely and shook it. He was warm to the touch. “Kai. Vampire.”

“Oh, are you one of those fancy pure blooded ones?” Sehun asked, his eyes dropping to Jongin’s feet before travelling up his body in a slow examination. Jongin could have sworn he caught sight of a piercing on the guy’s tongue as he spoke.

“I’m from the Kim clan,” he replied after a moment of hesitation. He didn’t want to draw attention to himself by using his family name so openly – hence why he preferred to just go by Kai instead of his given name – but he figured living with the guy would mean a lot of his personal information wouldn’t remain hidden for long.

“So you’re very fancy,” Sehun mused, a bit of a smirk curling at his lips. “How old are you?”

Jongin couldn’t quite tell if Sehun was making fun of him. The vampire stepped towards the unclaimed part of the room and opened the drawers of the desk, checking out how much storage space he had. “I turned one-hundred-and-fifty this year.”

“We’re around the same age. I’m older though,” Sehun’s voice sounded more pleased now.

“I’m not calling you by any honorifics,” Jongin immediately said, not even glancing up from investigating his desk. There was a pamphlet sitting on top of it that seemed to be a list of dorm rules and regulations.

Sehun snorted and it sounded like he had fallen back on his bed, sheets rustling and mattress squeaking. “That would be weird. We’re both under two-hundred-years-old so we’re practically the same age.”

Jongin didn’t offer a reply, instead opting to open the pamphlet and read through the expectations of the dorms. There was a knock at the door and Sehun moved first to get it. Jongin wasn’t expecting anyone so he figured the other male was.

The voice at the door though was someone Jongin knew. Why was Chanyeol here? Did he memorize Jongin’s room number?

Sehun let the phoenix in and there was another male right behind him.

“This must be your roommate, Kai,” Chanyeol started, talking to the vampire but holding out his hand to the djinn. “Hi, I’m Chanyeol, a phoenix and this is my roommate Kris. He’s a dragon.”

Sehun didn’t seem fazed by Chanyeol’s eagerness at all. He shook the red-head’s hand. “I’m Sehun, a djinn. I’ve actually met Kris before. We’ve had classes together.”

Kris nodded his head in greeting.

“I’ve never met a djinn before. Actually, I haven’t really heard of that kind of species before.” Chanyeol looked a little embarrassed by that fact but Sehun still didn’t look bothered.

“Humans mostly know us as genies. You know, the beings that live in lamps and grant three wishes?”

Interest lit up the phoenix’s features. “You live in a lamp?”

The djinn let out a laugh as if he got asked this all the time. As far as Jongin knew, he could have been. “Not yet. I won’t get my own lamp until I’m at least two hundred and it doesn’t have to be a lamp. Any container works really.”

Chanyeol’s companion chose that moment to step forward with a hand outstretched towards Jongin. “It’s nice to meet you. I hope we aren’t intruding. Chanyeol was adamant about seeing his new friend.”

The vampire shook Kris’ hand, noting the feeling of scales as well as skin and the slit pupils akin to that of a reptile’s staring back at him. The dragon was as tall as Chanyeol was and seemed to be entirely golden – golden blond hair, golden eyes, and shimmering golden scales that seemed to be randomly placed along his cheeks, neck and hands like patchwork. Jongin absentmindedly wondered just how much of him was scaled. He had never personally met a dragon before.

“It’s fine,” the vampire replied just a second too late. Kris didn’t seem to notice. “I’m resigning myself to the fact that I am now Chanyeol’s friend.”

“He’s a pretty persistent person,” Kris commented with a soft chuckle, his eyes drifting back over to the phoenix.

Chanyeol, as if sensing the eyes on him, interrupted whatever conversation he had going with Sehun to suggest getting a tour from the two returning students. At some point Sehun had pulled on a loose fitting tank top that only kind of covered him up. Jongin didn’t really want to go out – he was expecting his luggage soon – but both Sehun and Kris readily agreed and the vampire was whisked off with them.

Somehow it was decided that the Athletics Center would be the best place to check out first. It was the closest building to the dorms and according to Kris the facilities were “absolutely awesome”. Jongin was well aware of the capabilities of the campus as his parents hadn’t stopped praising the training that Exodus Academy provided. The younger Kim would need a little more to convince him though.

The four of them made their way to the main floor of the North dorms and stepped outside, forgoing the path that led back towards the campus store they had passed earlier in favour of crossing the stretch of green grass that separated the dorm building from the Athletics Center. Sehun claimed there was a back door near the South Wing of the dorms that led directly to the training area of the Athletics Center.

Jongin was taking up the rear with a steady but casual pace, crimson eyes trained on the lake just to the left but he suddenly bumped into Sehun’s back and nearly lost his footing on the rough patches of grass. Chanyeol let out a shout of fright and the whole group came to a sudden halt. Jongin peeked around Sehun in order to see just what had caused them to stop.

Right in front of a pale Chanyeol was a figure that seemed to be hovering a few feet above the ground. The guy seemed to be lacking all colour, making the solid red shirt he had on even brighter of a colour. His hair was completely white, styled up off of his forehead, his irises were nearly as ivory as the whites of his eyes, and he was paler than most vampires Jongin knew. Like the strange shadow walking student from earlier, Jongin couldn’t smell this guy either.

“New students, huh?” the guy prompted, a bright grin on his face. “I had heard that there would be a phoenix joining the school, but I never imagined he would be so tall.” The guy’s face was level with Chanyeol’s as he peered at the phoenix, bobbing gently in midair.

Sehun still didn’t look fazed. “Hey Lu, it isn’t very nice to scare the new guys.”

Chanyeol seemed to recover when Sehun addressed the strange student.

The pale guy let out a light laugh. “It wasn’t intentional, I swear! I’m sorry.” He stuck out a hand towards Chanyeol like a peace offering. “I’m Luhan.”

The phoenix did take the hand after a moment of hesitation. “Chanyeol. Uh… what species are you?”

“A ghost, spirit, phantom, wandering soul, specter, my kind have a whole bunch of names.” The corners of Luhan’s lips lifted into a small smile. Before Chanyeol could even breathe the word “cool”, Luhan flew/floated around him, bringing himself up close to Jongin suddenly. “You’re the Prince of the Kim Clan, aren’t you? Kim Jongin, right?”

The vampire’s mouth opened in complete shock, not expecting that this ghost would know pretty much his entire family connection. Chanyeol chose in that moment to make a rather stupid statement in Jongin’s opinion – “Wait, but your name is Kai.”

“I will only respond to the name Kai,” Jongin emphasised, his crimson eyes settled on Luhan’s face.

The ghost’s face was bright, as if he hadn’t done anything wrong with sharing Jongin’s personal information to a group of kind-of strangers. “It’s a pleasure, Prince Kai.”

“Just Kai, thank you,” Jongin reiterated through clenched teeth. Luhan was really grating on his nerves.

“So what are you doing over here, Lu?” Kris asked, effectively steering the conversation away from Jongin. Apparently the dragon knew this guy too?

Chanyeol voiced Jongin’s thoughts, glancing between the djinn, the spirit and the dragon. “You all know each other?”

Sehun shrugged. “Luhan knows everyone.”

“And everything,” Kris added, an amused tone to his voice.

“Clearly,” Jongin muttered, still a little irritated. He had wanted his status within the vampire community to stay unknown. Everyone treated him as royalty back at home and he wanted a break from it all. He just wanted to get through his time at this academy quietly with as little attention as possible. Luckily, it seemed his three new acquaintances didn’t think very much of the title.

“I heard about a pure blood and I was curious,” Luhan supplied as an answer to Kris’ question. His pale eyes lowered to Jongin’s hands. The ghost suddenly dropped to the ground, his feet landing silently on the grass and his hands reached out to grasp onto Jongin’s left hand. “So it is true that the pure bloods have magic rings,” he mused, more to himself than anyone else. His fingers touched the heavy ring that fit snug around Jongin’s middle finger and the vampire instinctually jerked away, holding his hand close to his chest.

No one touched his ring. The ring – a round onyx stone set upon a silver band and bound in a silver braid, branded with Jongin’s clan’s crest – was what kept him alive. Vampires burned in the sun and Jongin would be reduced to ashes without the magic that his ring was wrapped in. Only the pure blood families were granted the ability to walk in the daylight, a fact that few knew about outside of the vampire community.

“Luhan,” Sehun said, his tone still sounding bored. “What happened to boundaries?”

“Sorry, sorry!” Luhan chimed, holding his hands up in a gesture of surrender. “My apologies.”

Jongin just turned his head away from the ghost. “Are we going to the Athletics Center or not?”

That was the wrong thing to say for Luhan perked up, looking at the four of them. “You’re checking out the training grounds? Can I come?”

Sehun offered a shrug as his response – Chanyeol answered with a “sure” and Kris just nodded – and then the djinn turned to Jongin for his reply. “Yes or no?”

“Please? I’ll behave, promise!” Luhan said, his hands clasped in front of him like a child who was begging for a cookie.

Jongin looked between them all, realizing that they were all going to follow whatever he decided.


	3. "I Just Wish They Would End This Little Game They Have Going and Just Date Already."

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group witnesses a very interesting sparring match between ice and lightning.

Chanyeol liked Kris (he didn’t really have a choice since they would be living together for the next year, but he was actually a cool guy), he liked Sehun, but he wasn’t so sure about Luhan. Instead of asking questions like a normal person, the ghost already had the answers and he was really making Kai uncomfortable with the information he was revealing. Honestly, Chanyeol didn’t know how to feel about Kai keeping his real name a secret, but the phoenix couldn’t be angry. Kris’ real name wasn’t Kris either and Chanyeol figured both the dragon and vampire had their reasons. Kris was just more forthcoming with that information which Chanyeol appreciated. The phoenix hoped Kai would open up a little more eventually. The vampire was hard to read.

Which is why it came as a surprise that he claimed not to care if Luhan joined them. He even shrugged and adverted his gaze as if he was bored.

The ghost was very happy with the reply if the wide grin on his face was anything to go by. With their group numbers decided, they all headed towards the Athletics Center, with Chanyeol and Kris in the lead.

“The facilities here are top notch,” the dragon said, glancing at Chanyeol with a grin. “The building structure has been treated so that even our fire won’t be able to damage it.”

The phoenix’s eyes widened in surprise. Really, he shouldn’t be surprised considering how old the school is and how many fire creatures there were on campus, but phoenix fire was no joke and dragon fire was probably just as strong. The news brought him a little relief too since this was just one less building for him to worry about burning to the ground.

Kris pushed open the metal door and let the entire gang of them step inside before taking up the rear. Chanyeol’s eyes immediately went to the incredibly tall ceiling. The building didn’t look that tall from the outside, but the space inside was easily at least three stories tall. There were rafters up above with what looked like knotted rope slung over them, hanging down in the open air. To the right there were a few target boards set up, roughed up by burn marks and deep gashes. The entire floor space was some kind of smooth, polished surface but it wasn’t at all slippery. Most of the space was open but there were other doors lining the walls that led Chanyeol to believe that there were smaller rooms. From looking through the brochures, he knew that this was just one section of the Athletics center. There was also apparently an indoor aquatics center with a pool and water features (Chanyeol would be steering clear of that), a locker room with showers and an outdoor basketball court next door.

“Hey Kris!” a voice called, the owner jogging towards them with a hand raised in greeting.

The dragon stepped forward to meet the guy, an easy grin on his face. “Hey Yixing. Training today?”

The guy – Yixing – shook his head and threw a thumb over his shoulder in the directions of a few students who were using the training space behind him. “Dae asked me to play doctor.” Chanyeol couldn’t see any sure signs on Yixing’s body to suggest a particular species. He was pretty pale, with brown hair and brown eyes – very much human looking. He was playing doctor? Did he have medical abilities?

Kris glanced back at the rest of them, and introduced his friend, as if hearing Chanyeol’s mental questions. “This is Yixing. He’s the Headmaster’s nephew and a really talented warlock.” That explained why he looked mostly human. Chanyeol understood warlocks as humans who could use magic and live forever.

Yixing brought two fingers up to his temple in a casual sort of salute. “I specialize in healing so call me up whenever you want to train on your own time.”

“You already know Luhan,” Kris said, turning so he could gesture to the ghost. His hand motioned to each of them as he smoothly introduced them all to Yixing – short and sweet with a simple name and species.

“It’s nice to meet you all. I’ll probably see you all around at some point, but if you want to stick around for a bit and watch the sparring I’m monitoring right now, you’re welcome to.” Yixing smiled warmly and headed back over to the general area where the sparring was happening, keeping a safe distance from the two students facing each other.

Chanyeol easily followed, his eyes on the two sparring. One guy had wavy chocolate brown hair with two fox-like ears sticking out atop his head, tipped with blond hairs. He had a brown and blond-tipped tail too that was very enthusiastically whipping back and forth behind him as he twisted to avoid attacks and cast his own. His hands were crackling with what looked like streaks of lightning and flickering sparks. The energy would gather in his hands and strike the floor around him as if having a mind of its own before it was concentrated and thrust out of its wielder’s grip.

While the fox guy was warm and spontaneous, the other male was cool and calculative. His hair was entirely white and his body seemed to be covered in ice. Glinting geometric shapes coated parts of his face and body making him look more like a marble statue than a living person. Blocks of ice formed between the smooth movements of the guy’s hands and were shot at the fox guy, only to strike the polished floor and cover it in blue frost when the fox dashed out of the way.

“Jongdae is a kitsune with lightning magic,” Yixing explained, drawing Chanyeol’s curious eyes towards him for a moment before looking back at the fight. “Minseok is an ice sprite.”

The phoenix felt presences come up behind him, but they were familiar – Kris and the others – so he didn’t bother tearing his gaze from the pair in front of him. Chanyeol had never met a kitsune or ice sprite before. He didn’t know very much about their species so he was very, very intrigued with the match before him.

The two fighters were focused entirely on each other and they seemed to be very serious about it. There was no joy on either of their faces, just hard eyes and tense bodies. If it was taking place in a different setting, Chanyeol would have assumed they were actively trying to kill each other. There was no holding back in either of their attacks. The two of them must have trained together before or they were just both extremely talented, because even with the amount of bolts and ice flying back and forth, nothing hit. Both the kitsune and the sprite dodged each other’s attacks, moving as if they were a part of a complicated choreography.

The phoenix hoped that soon he would be able to fight like that.

It didn’t take too long for them to change tactics with the kitsune making the first move towards fighting hand-to-hand without long distance attacks. The fox dashed in, launching himself towards the other with his hands outstretched, electricity cracking at his heels, providing more power to his jump. The sprite tried to lunge to the right but the fox managed to wrap an arm around his middle and pull them both to the ground, rolling a few times across the shiny floor.

Chanyeol thought they had hurt themselves for a moment as the kitsune was laying atop the sprite, their bodies unmoving but then there was the loud sound of a laugh coming from the heap. The kitsune began squirming, his tail lashing as sparks appeared around him, fizzling into nothing as they struck the floor. He managed to roll away but the sprite followed, snowflakes fluttering to the ground and slowly melting. It took Chanyeol another moment to realize the two of them had turned their sparring match into a tickling match. The kitsune was letting out peels of laugher, his hands batting away the ice sprite as he attacked his sides with icy hands.

“I yield, I yield!” the fox yelled out, his tail thumping against the floor as if to further emphasize that he was tapping out.

The ice sprite sat up with a wide grin on his face. “That’s what you get.”

“Why do they insist on sparring when it always turns into flirting?” a new voice muttered from beside Chanyeol. The phoenix tore his eyes away from the two who had been fighting and towards who had spoken.

He hadn’t noticed the male who was standing on the other side of Yixing. He had his dark blue eyes on the two sitting on the floor, shaking his head with a huff. His blue-black hair looked wet but wasn’t dripping, slicked back away from his face. Chanyeol had no idea what kind of species he could have been.

“You sound annoyed,” Yixing said with a soft chuckle, his head turned towards the guy who had spoken.

“I just wish they would end this little game they have going and just date already,” the wet-looking guy replied, turning to look back at Yixing. He seemed to finally notice Chanyeol on Yixing’s other side. “Hi. Friend of Yixing’s?” He held out a hand towards Chanyeol.

“Friend of Kris,” Yixing corrected, gesturing behind him a little, drawing the guy’s attention to the others standing behind Chanyeol.

Kris raised a hand in a wave. Chanyeol clasped the wet looking guy’s hand, feeling a bit of a chill run up his spine due to the way the guy’s skin felt. It wasn’t wet, but kind of damp, as if he had showered earlier and the water hadn’t yet absorbed into his skin. The phoenix didn’t like water for obvious reasons. Fire and water just didn’t mix.

“I’m Kim Joonmyun,” the guy introduced, shaking Chanyeol’s hand briefly. “I’m a water nymph.”

“Park Chanyeol, phoenix.” Chanyeol dropped his hand quickly and hoped it didn’t seem rude. He just didn’t like the feel of Joonmyun’s skin.

“Fire and water. Sworn enemies,” Kris said with a playful grin.

Joonmyun laughed. “Just like us, huh Wu?” he shot back.

The dragon snorted but didn’t offer a response.

Yixing left their little grouping, walking towards the two students who were still seated on the ground a number of feet away. Chanyeol’s good hearing could pick up his question even from this distance – “any injuries?”

Luckily there wasn’t any so both the kitsune and sprite got up and the three joined the rest of them. The kitsune had thrown his arm over the shoulders of the slightly shorter sprite and had a bit of a bounce to his step. “We had an audience!” His golden eyes – with a split fox-like pupil – were blazing and his wide grin showed off pearly canines.

The sprite was a little more reserved, giving the kitsune a look with light blue eyes. The ice that had been covering his body while he fought had receded, leaving only frosty traces along his jaw, in his white hair, and even along the sleeves and legs of his t-shirt and jeans.

“This is Jongdae and Minseok. A lightning kitsune and an ice sprite,” Yixing said, as way of introducing them to those who hadn’t met them yet. He turned his attention to the pair. “You’ve both met Kris before, and Luhan I’m betting. This is Chanyeol, a phoenix, Sehun, a djinn, and Kai, a vampire.”

“I know Sehun. He was in my human history class last year,” Jongdae said.

Yixing looked between the two. “Oh, so you’re both second years then? Then is it just Kai and Chanyeol who are new? I don’t recall seeing either of you around campus before and I’ve been here a _long_ time.”

Chanyeol was curious so he spoke up. “How long is a long time?”

“My uncle raised me since I was young. He taught me all I know of magic and I officially enrolled in the school seven years ago.”

Seven years wasn’t a very long time with how long the life spans of most species were but if Yixing had been here since he was young it must have been even longer seeing these same buildings day in and day out.

“How old are you, Yixing?” Chanyeol asked, quickly adding “if you don’t mind me asking” as to not sound impolite.

“I’m two-hundred-and-ninety-two,” he replied easily. “I’ve been living with my uncle for almost two centuries.”

The warlock was so much older than he seemed, though it was hard to tell with pretty much any magical creature. Their physical age was much different than their actual age. Chanyeol looked more like a human would in their twenties than the seventy-three-year-old phoenix that he was. Yixing didn’t physically look much older.

“Hey Chanyeol,” Kris cut in, grabbing the attention of the phoenix. “We should check out the rest of the center. There’s still a whole other half to this place.”

Chanyeol hesitated, not liking the idea of being near so much water. Taking showers was enough of a necessary evil. Chanyeol planned to never go near the pool or the lake if he could help it. “I think I’ll pass. I don’t like the water,” he finally said. “I’m actually hungry so I think I’ll go check out the cafeteria instead.”

“Food sounds great,” Minseok chimed in, smiling at the phoenix. “Mind if I join?”

Chanyeol nodded easily. Another friend was welcome. “It’s an open invitation.”

“I’m down,” Jongdae agreed, his tail swaying behind his head.

Minseok looked at him weirdly. “You don’t eat.”

“I know. I’m tagging along just to annoy you,” the kitsune explained with a shit-eating grin, poking the ice sprite’s side.

Another tickling match nearly broke out but Joonmyun smoothly cut in. “Let’s just all go.”

There was a majority agreement and it was decided. They all began heading towards the double doors on the other side of the room that Chanyeol assumed was the normal entrance. While they all headed one way though, Kai headed in the opposite direction without a word.

Yixing noticed him first, calling out his name. “Where are you going? They supply blood at the cafeteria.”

Kai had stopped walking but didn’t turn back to look at any of them. Chanyeol wasn’t quite sure what to make of the vampire, but he was still hoping to get the other to warm up to him. He was sure Kai was lonely in some way.

“I’m going back to the dorms. I’ve already eaten today.” He didn’t offer up any other information and merely kept walking, heading for the door they had all entered through.

They let him go, though Chanyeol did consider going after him. The call of food was stronger, so he headed out with the rest of them to see just what the cafeteria had to offer.

* * *

While on the excursion to the cafeteria, Chanyeol learned a number of things about the eating habits of his new friends. Jongdae and Luhan didn’t eat at all. Sehun didn’t need food to survive, though that didn’t stop him from ordering bubble tea as he apparently loved the taste. Yixing, Minseok, Joonmyun and Kris ate food as humans did, just like Chanyeol. Joonmyun had a taste for seafood since he had been raised on it and Kris ate more meat than veggies, with a whole lot of spice. Chanyeol wondered if either of those preferences had to do with their species or was just unique to them.

Orientation week had continued with a few more events to help the new students and returning students mingle and find somewhere to fit in. After giving the students a day or two to settle into their dorm rooms and get familiar with the campus, the school set up a festival of sorts along the beach area of the lake. It was still much too cold even in March for swimming for most species, but there was a massive bonfire not far from the shore and even fireworks set off over the lake. Food and drinks were supplied for those who ate and various activities encouraged student interaction and team efforts.

Chanyeol had attended the festival with Kris and Sehun, dragging an unenthusiastic Kai with them. They had met up with Yixing and Joonmyun while there and had run into Jongdae and Minseok at some point. The phoenix was glad to have made so many new friends and he was pleased to discover that he had a class with Kai and a class with Kris surprisingly. Apparently some of the more specialized classes mixed upper years with new students to provide a better learning experience. It was going to be fun.

The day after the beach festival, there was a fair set up around the courtyard of the main building where booths assigned to each club offered by the academy were arranged. Returning students met up with friends and signed up for clubs they had participated in the year before or new ones they wished to learn about. The new students had the opportunity to learn about each of the various clubs offered and a chance to sign up for the ones they were interested in.

There were so many choices that Chanyeol was having a hard time picking just one. He had four classes to balance, as well as training and study outside of class, so he decided that he would only commit himself to one club until he had a better idea of his workload.

Kris had been pestering him to join the basketball club since they had checked out the court the day before. The dragon insisted that it made perfect sense since Chanyeol was so tall. The phoenix allowed Kris to steer him to the table but only after seeing all of the other club booths first. Chanyeol was introduced to the few members who were managing the booth and recruitments and by the end of the conversation, Chanyeol had signed his name on the list. They met on Saturday afternoons for a couple hours so it wouldn’t interfere with his school schedule for the most part.

The phoenix had his history class for fire creatures on Monday mornings which sucked because Chanyeol hated having to wake up before ten and he didn’t yet know anyone in the class. Tuesdays he had his class with Kai, which focused on human history. This allowed Chanyeol a great opportunity to get closer with the elusive vampire.

Wednesdays at three he had fire training with Kris at the Athletics Center. He didn’t get to actually train with Kris though since dragons couldn’t produce fire quite like phoenixes could. Dragons could only breathe fire through their mouths while in their true form. Kris had only been working on stabilizing his shift into his dragon form for the last year so he still wasn’t practiced enough to actually spar in it. Chanyeol’s first class was spent manipulating his flames into projectiles to launch at the targets lining the far wall. The phoenix wasn’t exactly very good at aiming which probably would have led to the entire building catching on fire if it wasn’t for the magically treated walls.

Thursday was Chanyeol’s last class of the week. They were given the choice of an elective class where they could study a subject that had nothing to do with their species or abilities. The phoenix had developed a liking for music during his time traveling the world so he chose a class where he had the opportunity to focus on a musical instrument and learn how to play. It was a morning class, but Chanyeol was a little more eager for this one since he got to study something he was really interested in.

The professor was a woodland faerie with tattoos of autumn leaves crawling up her neck and cheek. She was sweet and had a real passion for music. The harp was her instrument of choice and Chanyeol was very easily enraptured by the way her slender fingers seemed to dance over the strings and create such a beautiful melody.

Each student, even the returning ones, had the opportunity to choose from a whole bunch of instruments supplied by the school. Many of them were of human origin, but there were a few that Chanyeol wasn’t familiar with that he assumed were from a non-human culture. After some consideration, he had his eye on three in particular.

There were many times where the phoenix had heard a human playing the guitar on the side of a street with a hat sitting upside down in front of him. Other humans would gather around to listen and drop coins into the hat. The music was raw and jolly and had made Chanyeol curious to learn how to strum the strings.

The drums were another instrument he had grown to enjoy. The way the sticks were struck against the drums and cymbals in an almost frenzy, keeping a beat that immediately made Chanyeol tap his foot. The phoenix wanted to learn how to keep a steady rhythm and generate a cool rock sound.

The last instrument Chanyeol was considering was the piano. He had heard softer songs created with it – songs with haunting sounds that made the heart ache. He could recognize emotion so easily with the press of every key and he loved the way the fingers danced across the black and white board.

Each instrument had a distinct sound and the phoenix took a long minute to choose.


	4. "What Does Blood Taste Like?"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The abilities and unique qualities of the various creatures on campus are explored with a few very brazen questions.

It was almost as if there was a guiding hand, gently urging Chanyeol towards the guitar that was tucked into its carrying case atop one of the tables. It was a beautiful, deep coloured wood with a long black neck, stretched with taut strings. The phoenix ran his fingers lightly over the strings, watching them vibrate with the slight touch. He was so enamored with the instrument that he didn’t hear the next instructions from his professor, but the commotion creating sounds behind him was enough to draw his eyes over to the doorway leading into the classroom.

There was an influx of what looked like students, each carrying their own instrument, each one different from the last. The professor explained that they were returning students that had completed this class the year before and would be helping out the first month or so of class. Because the class would be divided up into different clusters according to the instrument chosen, these returning students would act as mentors to help teach the basics to playing an individual instrument. While the professor would provide the knowledge needed to read music – it wasn’t required to have any prior knowledge of music to take the course – the mentors would then connect that music knowledge to their specialized instrument. Chanyeol certainly needed the basics of basics. By the end of the term, hopefully, the students would be able to play easy musical pieces.

Once the older students began breaking off into the small groups according to their instrument, Chanyeol turned back to the guitar that was calling to him. There had been an electric guitar seated next to it earlier, but it had since been claimed. The one Chanyeol had his eyes on was more traditional – an “acoustic” guitar if Chanyeol’s knowledge was correct.

“Is this your choice?” a voice asked, causing Chanyeol’s head to snap up to see who was speaking.

A short pink-haired guy stood on the other side of the table, a large grey case the same shape as the one laying before Chanyeol was slung over his shoulder. The phoenix couldn’t be sure of his species at first glance as nothing really stood out besides the pale pink hair.

“Uh,” Chanyeol smartly started, glancing back down at the guitar he was touching before nodding. “Yeah.”

“Guess I’m your mentor.” The guy stuck out a pale hand which Chanyeol grasped a moment later in a handshake. “I’m Lee Jihoon, faerie.”

“Park Chanyeol. I’m a phoenix.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Chanyeol.”

They moved over to an unoccupied corner of the classroom and found themselves each a seat. Chanyeol brought his chosen instrument over with him and carefully removed it from its protective case, as if it were some precious ancient relic. This treatment would probably change over time as the phoenix became more and more comfortable with the guitar. He could already picture himself seated on the end of his bed, plucking at the strings any spare minute he had.

Jihoon taught him the different parts of the instrument and gave a brief explanation of what each part did. He explained the layout of the strings and had Chanyeol make up a mnemonic, or rhyme to help him remember the corresponding letters for each string. After writing down a few options, Chanyeol settled for the very relatable – Every Bird Gets Drowsy After Eating. Jihoon showed him how to place his fingers and helped him hold the instrument right so he could strum the cords correctly.

Pretty soon, Chanyeol could produce sound with the guitar, playing around with different finger placements on the neck. There was no sort of structured song – they hadn’t learned how to read music yet – but Chanyeol could at least produce distinct notes.

“Here, keep your fingers on these strings,” Jihoon suggested, reaching out to manually place Chanyeol’s fingers in the correct spot. “Strum like this.” The faerie grasped Chanyeol’s other hand and moved it up and down in a steady rhythm. The phoenix kept up the strumming and Jihoon picked up his own instrument from where he had rested it against the side of his seat. He settled the guitar against his body and placed his fingers into position before beginning to play. The notes matched with Chanyeol’s to create a more dynamic sound and melt into a proper song. Jihoon’s fingers moved beautifully over the strings, effortlessly holding down different strings as he played, weaving a smooth but somewhat upbeat song.

Chanyeol was focused on the faerie’s hands, watching the way they moved and hoping to be able to play like that soon. He could have sat there and watched and learned all day. Jihoon’s pink bangs fell into his eyes as he leaned over the instrument a little, invested in what he was doing.

There was all sorts of sounds happening in the room. Some of the louder instruments had disappeared from the room, leaving only the bigger, less transportable instruments to remain. Chanyeol’s eyes drifted from his mentor towards the sweet sound of a piano.

It was clearly a returning student who was playing as the song was complex and drew the ear. Chanyeol’s classmate sat nearby but the phoenix didn’t even register their species for his eyes were on the person playing. He thought the guy was probably an elf due to the pointed ears slightly hidden under blond hair. The piano player’s fingers danced over the keys, confident and graceful. The instrument produced such sound that everyone else in the room had gone quiet, turned towards the source of the music.

Sometime during the song, Jihoon had stopped strumming his guitar seeing as Chanyeol had completely abandoned their playing in favour of watching the other student.

Too soon, the elf brought his song to an end, leaving the last note to hang in the air and slowly fade. Chanyeol’s teacher began clapping, evoking the few other students in the room to join the applause. The piano player bowed his head a little, a smile lighting up his face.

Their professor chose then to announce the end of class and dismissed them all. Jihoon showed Chanyeol how to pack up his guitar safely and bid the phoenix goodbye, promising to show him how to use a guitar pick next class. Chanyeol waved enthusiastically, his guitar case slung over his shoulder as he scanned the classroom. The piano bench was empty and the elf was nowhere in sight. Chanyeol had wanted to compliment him on the playing but it seemed it would have to wait until he saw him in class again.

The phoenix made his way down the nearest stairwell to the main floor – his music class was in the West Wing on the second floor – and headed for the cafeteria. He hadn’t eaten yet that day and he felt his stomach rumble with the prospect of food.

The cafeteria was rather full as it was near lunch time and many students were taking advantage of the team of chefs that were employed by the school. There was a wide range of cuisines available throughout the day and a more specific selection was available during the night hours for students who were more active once the sun set.

Chanyeol’s mouth watered as he stood before the long buffet styled booths, full of steaming food. He picked up a plate and went to work, piling it high with food from all over the world – both the human and mythical world. The smells were absolutely heavenly and had Chanyeol eagerly scanning the longs rows of tables lining the rest of the room.

He was looking for an open spot so he could eat in peace, making a mental note to make friends in his music class so he would have people to eat with. As he was looking, his golden eyes caught sight of two familiar heads. He probably would have overlooked the styled brown head of hair, but the blue-black locks on the other side of the table made him stop.

With a wide grin on his face, Chanyeol made a beeline for that table, setting his tray down next to Yixing and seating himself in the closest chair. The guitar case on his shoulder was set down on the floor, sitting upright against the edge of the table.

The warlock looked up in surprise, his cheeks full of rice. Joonmyun smiled warmly at the phoenix, a plate of pink shrimp in front of him. “Hey Chan.”

Chanyeol mumbled out a greeting from around the mouthful of food he had already stuffed his face with. The phoenix was _hungry_.

His friends didn’t seem to find any offense. Yixing even laughed.

“Did you have class?” Joonmyun asked, sipping at his tea as he looked at the phoenix curiously with his dark blue eyes.

Chanyeol nodded and swallowed his bite of food before replying. “Music class.”

“Chose the guitar?” Yixing asked, glancing over at the black material of the case next to the phoenix.

Another nodded was given as Chanyeol stuffed another strip of steak into his mouth.

“When you get more comfortable with it, we should play sometime. I play the guitar too.”

Chanyeol looked at the warlock with a bit of surprise. “Really? That would be awesome.” It would be great to have someone to practice with outside of class.

“Maybe Joonmyun will join us with his singing voice,” Yixing added, looking across the table at the water nymph with a smile.

Joonmyun shook his head immediately. “I don’t sing in public.”

Chanyeol looked between the two of them. “Then how does Yixing know you can sing?”

“I overheard him singing last year. He was swimming in the lake by the South dorms.”

“I thought I was alone,” Joonmyun huffed, biting a piece of his shrimp almost violently.

“Joonmyun likes to secretly swim naked when-” Yixing cut off with a sputter when he was hit in the face with a shot of water, directed from Joonmyun’s pointed finger.

The water nymph glared at the warlock, his mouth downturned in a scowl. “Yixing sucks at keeping secrets.”

The warlock merely shrugged, drawing an open palm over his face, a touch of violet smoke at his fingertips. When his hand had made a full pass, his hair and skin was completely dry and there was a teasing grin on his lips.

Yixing seemed to have something to say, but Joonmyun’s attention turned to something over Yixing’s head and the nymph raised a hand, calling out to someone named Soo.

Chanyeol turned to look over his shoulder and saw two males headed for their table, each with a plate of food in their hands. Both of them were quite a bit shorter than Chanyeol was. As they drew closer, Chanyeol realized who the taller of the two was. He recognized the head of blond hair and pointed ears decorated in silver jewellery as the elf who had been playing the piano in his music class. The navy blazer and white pants were the same. The friend was brunet with round eyes the colour of fresh spring leaves. Chanyeol wasn’t quite sure what species he was.

The pair slid into chairs on Joonmyun’s side of the table and it seemed that Chanyeol’s friends knew the both of them. The phoenix settled his gaze on the elf. “You’re in my music class.”

The blond turned his golden eyes to the phoenix and a big smile full of teeth stretched across his face. “I’m Byun Baekhyun.”

Chanyeol couldn’t help but smile back as he introduced himself in return. He glanced at Baekhyun’s companion, expecting an introduction from him as well.

“Do Kyungsoo,” the brunet murmured, his voice soft compared to his companion’s.

“What species are you?” Chanyeol asked.

“Faerie.”

“Soo is a woodland faerie,” Baekhyun further explained, leaning over the table a little. “And I’m an elf with light abilities.”

Chanyeol’s face turned curious. “Light abilities?” He wasn’t sure what exactly that meant. He did know that woodland faeries worked with the earth mainly.

Baekhyun opened his palm and a small ball of white light seemed to gather there, throwing a band of reflected light across Baekhyun’s jaw. “I can manipulate light.”

The phoenix made an impressed noise in the back of his throat and watched as Baekhyun closed his fingers over the ball and the light disappeared.

“You can sing, can’t you Soo?” Yixing asked suddenly, bringing the conversation back to their previous topic.

Kyungsoo nodded and Baekhyun cut in with an ‘I can too!’.

“Chanyeol and I want to practice playing together and Joon doesn’t want to be the vocalist.”

“Is he still on that whole ‘not in public’ rule?” Baekhyun asked as if Joonmyun wasn’t sitting right at the table.

“Apparently.”

Baekhyun turned his head to gaze at the nymph, looking as if he was about to lecture the other. “You’re a fae, Joon. You’re supposed to love singing.”

“I do, I just love to do it privately,” Joonmyun explained, twirling a shrimp between his fingers. He seemed very much done with the topic.

“Fae?” Chanyeol voiced, a little lost in the conversation.

“Faerie,” Baekhyun interpreted. “Nymphs and faeries are the same species. There are just different names for some of them.”

“Because I manipulate water, I’m a nymph,” Joonmyun explained further, “and Minseok uses ice so he’s a sprite.”

“So all faeries can sing?” Chanyeol asked, curious to find out more. He hadn’t realized that the faerie species was separated into types.

“Most of them. It’s their _thing_.” Baekhyun folded a piece of red meat into a large leaf, finally focusing on his lunch. “Elves can too usually, but that’s just because we’re naturally talented at _everything_.” He winked at the phoenix and bit into his green wrap.

“Like the piano. What were you playing?” Chanyeol asked, remembering that he meant to compliment the elf when he saw him again.

Baekhyun spoke around the food he had in his mouth, his words slightly slurred. “Something I wrote.”

Chanyeol was impressed. Not only could Baekhyun play beautifully, but he was able to write songs too. “It was wonderful.”

“Thank you.” Baekhyun had another wide smile on his face and his eyes were warm. The elf seemed to be a bright person and Chanyeol had a feeling they would get along great.

“Is that Kai?” Joonmyun suddenly asked aloud and Chanyeol followed his line of sight to a nicely dressed male standing by a box cooler near the buffet tables.

“Kai!” Chanyeol yelled across the room before he could help himself.

The vampire’s head lifted and his eyes settled on the table the phoenix was at.

* * *

Jongin’s head snapped up at the sound of his name being called rather loudly. He let out a soft sigh when he realized it was a certain phoenix who had called him. Of course it was Chanyeol. No one else would yell out so brazenly in the middle of a busy cafeteria. Once the vampire realized that the phoenix was sitting with some familiar faces, he decided to walk over to them. Otherwise Chanyeol might keep yelling.

Class wasn’t until nightfall for the vampire, but he had gotten hungry. The school had a pretty expansive collection of blood. They supplied different types in individual opaque plastic cups, each with a straw that could be stabbed through the thin plastic cover. It made the act of drinking blood look rather mundane.

With his cup of A positive in hand, Jongin approached the table where Chanyeol sat with Yixing, Joonmyun and two other unfamiliar faces.

“Fancy seeing a vampire up while the sun is out,” one of the two strangers commented. Jongin wasn’t sure if it was meant to be snarky or not. His golden eyes didn’t seem to hold any judgement, but Jongin had learned quickly that some people were very talented at hiding their true intentions.

“Pure bloods have certain perks,” Jongin replied smoothly, stabbing his straw through the thin film stretched over his cup.

The blond haired guy’s eyebrows raised slightly – in shock or interest, Jongin wasn’t sure. “Am I in the presence of royalty?” The star earrings dangling from his pointed elfish ears swayed a little with the movements of his head.

It seemed more people knew of the social hierarchy of the vampire world than Jongin had anticipated. “I’m merely Kai here,” he said, answering and yet not. So far it didn’t seem like the other species here at the school cared. Perhaps they were too young or perhaps Jongin was under the impression that his family had more influence than they really did. Either way he didn’t want to use his family name unless necessary.

“Baekhyun,” the blond introduced, smiling in a friendly manner. “Elf.”

“Sit down, Kai,” Yixing suggested, patting the empty chair next to him.

Jongin considered it before accepting the seat. He rested his arms on the table in front of him, holding his cup between his fingers. His crimson eyes returned to the elf on the other side of the table. “What element do you practice?”

The vampire was aware that elves were taught elemental magic. It was similar to how faeries were divided by elements but elves didn’t have the ability to transform their bodies as many faeries did. Elves practiced magic that had to do more with manipulating the elements as they already existed. While a nymph like Joonmyun produced water from his own body, elves could only manipulate water found in their environment.

“Light.”

Jongin made a sound in the back of his throat to signify that he had heard, but instead of answering with words, he stuck his straw between his lips and sipped at his drink. The blood warmed his body and brought a slight flush to his cheeks. Each type had a different flavour – A positive was tangy with an almost floral aftertaste.

As he drank, Jongin’s eyes brightened in colour and he turned his attention to the quiet brunet seated next to the elf. His nose told him that this guy was a faerie and judging by the colour of his vibrant eyes, he was most likely one of the woodland.

Probably feeling the eyes on him, the faerie lifted his gaze from his lunch and turned the full intensity of his emerald orbs on Jongin. He seemed to get the intention behind Jongin’s look and introduced himself in a soft voice, confirming the vampire’s guess of a woodland faerie.

Things went quiet for a few minutes after that, as neither Kyungsoo nor Jongin were very good conversationalists.

Baekhyun was the first to break that quiet by pointing at Jongin’s cup. “What does blood taste like?” he asked, leaning forward a little in his curiosity.

The vampire held out the cup in mock offering. “Take a sip and find out.”

The elf’s nose curled in disgust. “No thanks.”

Jongin caught the corner of Kyungsoo’s mouth lift into a bit of a smile. Was he amused? It was gone a second later.

“I’ve wondered too,” Chanyeol mused, leaning over a little so he could see Jongin around Yixing.

Jongin offered the cup towards the phoenix and after a moment of hesitation, Chanyeol actually took it. The vampire watched as the phoenix pulled the straw up so that the lower half of it that had been submerged in Jongin’s drink was up past the plastic seal. He swiped a finger down the straw, picking up some of the thick scarlet sticking to the plastic tube. Everyone at the table had their attention on Chanyeol, poised with curiosity or disbelief.

The phoenix held his finger up to his face for a moment, just looking at the bit of blood that had begun to slide down the side of his fingertip. His expression was apprehensive but also interested. Jongin thought he was going to chicken out but a moment later Chanyeol stuck his finger in his mouth and the reaction was instantaneous. Yixing sucked in a sharp breath just as Chanyeol’s face transformed into that of someone who had been punched in the gut. His mouth opened with a choking sound and he stuck out his tongue, scrambling for his napkin to wipe the traces of blood from his mouth. He immediately reached for his own drink to try and wash away the taste.

“What did it taste like?” Baekhyun questioned, eager to find out since he didn’t have to be the guinea pig.

Chanyeol wiped at his finger to make sure all traces of blood were gone before responding to Baekhyun. “It was metallic, but it was like if you sucked on the hilt of an old sword that had been held by dozens of sweaty hands.”

Baekhyun made a gagging face and Kyungsoo was muffling his quiet laughter behind his hand. There was a sliver of green peeking out from beneath Kyungsoo’s high necked shirt when he moved and the vampire wondered if it was a tattoo of some sort or a marking of faerie. Jongin took his drink back and shoved the straw back in properly. He took a long sip, his eyes lingering on Kyungsoo in quiet curiosity. While Baekhyun was very talkative, Kyungsoo had hardly said anything. The vampire wondered how the two of them had become friends.

“Have you ever had living blood?” Baekhyun asked. The elf seemed to be full of questions and wasn’t shy in the least with asking rather brazen ones.

Jongin wasn’t about to admit to these strangers that his family had humans whose main purpose was to feed them. That probably wouldn’t be looked at as casually as it was in the vampire community, even if it was consensual. So instead Jongin answered with a simple ‘yes’.

“Which is better?”

“Isn’t fresh food better to you?” Jongin countered.

“Touché.”

“Can vampires consume other types of food?” It was Joonmyun who asked this time, looking at Jongin with open curiosity.

“We can, but it has no nutritional value and it tastes rather bland.”

“You’re missing out on so many great foods,” Chanyeol said, sounding like that was a great tragedy.

Jongin shrugged. He was born a vampire so blood was all he had ever come to consume and enjoy. He didn’t have the same human memories that changed vampires had. You can’t miss what you’ve never experienced.

The conversation was directed towards a different topic with a single question asked of Joonmyun. Jongin didn’t understand the context so he took the opportunity to sit back and drink his lunch. His vermillion eyes remained watchful, taking in the subtle actions of those around him.

Chanyeol was full of wide hand gestures while he talked, but he didn’t seem to be very aware of it while he spoke, throwing his arms around haphazardly. He was easy to read and Jongin could recognize that he had an inviting presence. Yixing held himself like someone who had lived through many years, but while there was perhaps a weight on him, it wasn’t a burden. Joonmyun sat back a little from everyone. He was very much present, but he seemed to be someone who watched others like Jongin was doing. There were a few times where the vampire’s eyes met the nymphs and each time Joonmyun was the one who broke the contact first, the touch of a smile at the corners of his lips. Baekhyun was a loud and boisterous person with many thoughts on his mind that he voiced aloud with no inhibition. He and Chanyeol seemed to feed off of each other’s energies.

Kyungsoo was a harder read for Jongin. The faerie was quiet unless directly asked a question and while often times his eyes were on whoever was talking, there were many times when they remained trained on his plate of food. There were a few moments where it looked to Jongin like Kyungsoo was going to open his mouth to add some kind of comment or response, but then the small movement was gone and Jongin was left wondering if he had imagined it.

The time in the cafeteria, while loud, was also immensely interesting, if only as a way to offer some insight into who Jongin’s fellow students were.

* * *

The sun had set and it was time for Jongin’s last class of the week. His week so far was decent. Tuesday mornings were spent in dance class with his roommate Sehun. They had grown closer with the discovery of a common interest in dance. Tuesday afternoons were with Chanyeol in Human History class. The phoenix was actually less talkative in class, eager to actually learn. Wednesday at nightfall was Jongin’s class on the History of Night Beings. With a good chunk of his week being spent in class learning history, Jongin was glad to finally get to actual practice with using his abilities, even if it was when he would much rather be sleeping.

Exodus Academy had to provide specialized classes for some of their students who couldn’t survive in direct sunlight. Changed vampires and camazotz burned. Trolls turned to stone. Jongin would be in the same boat as changed vampires if it wasn’t for his ring.

This particular class was focused on mastering the skill of shadow manipulation. Only pure blooded vampires had that ability from the vampire species, so Jongin didn’t expect to see any other vampires (if there was another pure blooded vampire at the academy he would have known about it by now).

The class was small with just under a dozen students. Most of the students were wendigoag and hellhounds. Both those species had the ability to manipulate shadows and Jongin would come to learn that hellhounds shared his ability to travel using them. It made sense then as to why there was a hellhound teaching the class. Jongin’s professor would have to have the knowledge and ability to work with shadows in the same way that all of his students would.

There was one student who didn’t fit with any of the other students and he stuck out just as Jongin did. While the wendigoag took on their form given under the moon – stretching out like grotesque mannequins and growing twisted horns atop their heads – and the hellhounds took on more wolf-like forms, Jongin and this other student remained human looking.

They were well into class and had actually moved location to the expansive area of grass outside since the cold bothered none of them. The students were scattered across the open space next to the basketball court on the west side of the Athletics Center. Jongin’s professor was instructing them to practice stretching shadows between their hands when Jongin remembered where he had seen this other student before.

It was the guy who had disappeared outside of the dorms that first day when Jongin was with Chanyeol. The one who had been looking at the vampire rather intently.

He would be like an actual shadow to those without night vision, but Jongin’s eyes allowed him to see with absolute clarity even in the darkest of nights. The student was all in black with midnight hair that hung long over his onyx eyes. Everything he wore was some shade of black or charcoal grey. The only thing light about him was his skin which looked pale against the starkness of all the black.

It seemed the guy had recognized Jongin too if the glances from his dark eyes were anything to go by. He had yet to approach the vampire though, so Jongin decided to make the first move.

The vampire silently moved across the lawn, keeping it casual as he drew near the student. He was pretty to the point with his words though, wasting no time with small talk. “I saw you shadow walk the other day. In front of the dorms.”

The dark haired guy looked at Jongin with unreadable eyes, the shadows at his fingertips dissipating like smoke as his concentration was moved to the vampire.

He didn’t say anything for a long moment, so Jongin kept going. “I didn’t know there were species besides pure blooded vampires who could walk through shadows.”

“There aren’t many.” The guy finally spoke, his voice low but not gravelly. He went quiet again, just peering at Jongin with those deep, dark eyes. His gaze was actually kind of uncomfortable for Jongin, though he would never admit that out loud. It was as if the other male could see things about the vampire that he didn’t even know himself.

“What are you then?” Jongin pressed, seeing as his fellow student wasn’t inclined to give out information without being outright asked.

“A grim reaper.”

An odd chill ran down Jongin’s spine. It was odd because Jongin wasn’t effected by the cold, but also because that shouldn’t really bother him being a vampire and all. A grim reaper was a creature that dealt with death. Jongin had never personally met one until now and he didn’t know very much about them. Vampires were immortal though, so death wasn’t something Jongin entertained often when pertaining to himself.

“You seemed to already be good at shadow walking,” Jongin commented, curious to find out what a grim reaper was doing at this school. The species kept to themselves for the most part, only showing up when someone was going to die. It made sense if you think about it. They held the power to choose between life and death for someone. There were people who could try to exploit that.

“I am, but practice doesn’t hurt,” the dark-haired male replied with a very flat voice, as if he was reciting boring statistics.

“So were you just sent here for practice?”

“It was decided to test the resources of the academy. I’m the only grim reaper who has ever attended this school.”

That was more information than Jongin had expected to receive and it was very interesting. It was assumed that the reapers had their own system to teach their new recruits, though Jongin knew very few details. What made them decide now to find out what Exodus Academy had to offer when the school had been around for many years already?

“What’s your name?” The vampire was genuinely interested in this student. He wasn’t interested in knowledge of the future, but rather in the reaper species. Befriending one wouldn’t hurt.

“Zitao.”

Jongin chose not to hold out his hand. He didn’t think the other was into handshakes and Jongin didn’t really want to find out if grim reaper skin felt as cold and dead as it looked. Instead he merely introduced himself and asked for some simple assistance. “My name is Kai. Do you think you could give me some pointers with shadow walking?”

Zitao seemed reluctant but actually agreed, much to the vampire’s surprise. He and Jongin spent the rest of class working through the problems that Jongin seemed to have when it came to teleporting himself. They worked with short distances so that Jongin didn’t accidentally end up stranded in some far off location. They went through the steps Jongin had been taught and Zitao gave a few very helpful tips. Instead of just visualizing the place one wished to travel to, adding in smells and sounds into your mental image strengthened the location and made it less likely that it would shift mid-travel.

When class was finally called to an end, Jongin felt much more confident in his shadow walking skills. He had successfully teleported himself up to ten metres across the field. During their little one-on-one training session, a couple of the other students had become interested in the two of them. Zitao seemed to be able to ignore it while the two of them were talking or he was focusing on showing Jongin examples of shadow formations, but as soon as class ended, it was clear that the attention of more than one person was uncomfortable for the grim reaper. He bid the vampire a polite but short goodbye and promptly disappeared, being consumed twisting shadows.

A female wendigo – back in her more human looking form – introduced herself to Jongin before the vampire could make himself scarce as well. She was clearly interested, letting her violet eyes wander up and down Jongin’s body as she suggested they hang out sometime. Jongin was pretty certain he gave her some kind of slightly positive response even though he had no intention of actually following through. The vampire couldn’t even recall her name.

He summoned some shadows for assistance and visualized his dorm room for an easy out. With one step into the dark, swirling doorway of living shadows, Jongin silently hoped he would actually end up at his intended destination and was swallowed whole.


	5. "You're Lucky I Decided to Wear Clothes to Bed."

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chanyeol and Jongin find out what it's like playing human games with magical abilities.

Looking back at it later, Jongin realized that he made the mistake of thinking of sleep while mid-walk. Such a stupid mistake. He very quickly shot down any sort of deliberation in his head as to why it was _that bed, _as that was a thought he wasn’t willing to try and dissect.

He did end up in his dorm room, but instead of stepping through a shadow door in the middle of the room like he meant to, he _fell_ _out_ of his shadow door. To make matters worse, it wasn’t his bed he landed on – he would have rather landed on the floor even – but no, he had to fall out of the portal he had opened up at the ceiling and land on his roommate’s bed.

The absolute kicker though was the fact that Sehun was _in_ the bed and was the cushion for Jongin’s unexpected landing.

The djinn was all long gangly limbs and sharp edges which dug into the soft parts of Jongin’s body and knocked painfully up against the harder parts as the vampire ungracefully crashed onto his bed. It took them both a few minutes of soft painful groans and muttered curses in an array of languages before they went about figuring out whose limbs were whose and untangling themselves. Jongin’s head had luckily met with Sehun’s chest which had saved them both from the unpleasant experience of clashing heads.

The vampire pushed himself up onto his hands seeing as he was the one on top and while his right hand gripped onto the cotton fabric of Sehun’s comforter, his left hand met more resistance as his fingers curled around the djinn’s palm to try and find purchase to lift himself. Jongin got onto his hands and knees which brought his face right in close to Sehun’s, crimson eyes meeting with soft brown. Sehun’s lips were slightly parted as they just laid there staring at each other for several long moments and Jongin could clearly see the little silver ball of metal Sehun had resting near the tip of his tongue.

They were so close Jongin could feel Sehun’s hot breath ghosting across his face. He could feel the heat of his body and he could hear the pumping of the blood beneath his skin. It was almost like his blood was what was keeping Jongin there, as if transfixed. The vampire had only ever had the blood of humans. He wondered how the blood of a magic being would taste, how it would make him feel. It certainly smelled wonderful, rich with a note of sweetness.

At some point his eyes had moved from Sehun’s face to the sharp dip of his throat where it met his shoulder and collarbone, but he was startled from his trance by an amused sounding voice.

“You’re lucky I decided to wear clothes to bed.”

Jongin was up out of that bed as fast as his enhanced speed allowed. The curtains billowing against the closed window was the only evidence to his movement besides his body suddenly being on the other side of the room, going through his wardrobe for something to sleep in.

The vampire was entirely mortified, but of course he wouldn’t dare show it. Luckily his kind didn’t flush easily so he could very easily get away with nonchalantly picking through his folded clothes. There was nothing said for several minutes as Jongin picked out his clothing. He could feel the eyes on him though and couldn’t quite bring himself to face Sehun, so he opted to escape the room and change in the bathrooms.

He shouldn’t have been so confident in his shadow walking so soon. Was it possible to recover from literally falling on top of your roommate? He had a feeling Sehun wouldn’t drop it for quite a while, if ever.

When he returned Sehun was still up but was now under his covers, the comforter pulled up over his stomach. His arms were folded beneath his head and he was staring at the ceiling, seemingly lost in thought. Jongin silently closed the door behind him and tossed his clothing in the basket he had for laundry before retiring for bed himself.

Sehun still had his bedside lamp on and made no move to turn it off. There was absolute silence in the room with the two of them just lying in their respective beds, a soft golden glow from the lamp lighting the room.

Jongin would have believed the djinn had actually fallen asleep from how quiet and still he was being, but the sound of his breathing gave him away. That and the sudden comment he made out of the blue.

“You know, you should come with a warning label: may appear from the sky and squish you.”

The vampire had no idea how to respond to such a comment and frankly, he didn’t think it deserved a response.

Of course, Sehun had to expand on his stupid late night thoughts.

“My warning label would be: will grant a wish for bubble tea.”

Jongin couldn’t stop himself from replying to that particular remark. “That isn’t really a warning label.”

“Yeah, you’re right, it’s more like a promotion.”

Jongin decided to steer the topic onto a more constructive subject. If Sehun was going to continue thinking aloud then at least it could become a conversation instead of a solo exploration of the inner workings of Sehun’s mind. “Don’t you find it unfair that you can’t use your magic for your own benefit?”

There was a long moment where Jongin wasn’t sure if Sehun would actually reply but then he said, “I guess it does kind of suck, but we haven’t been able to do that for hundreds of years so I guess I’m kind of used to it.”

Jongin pushed himself up onto his one elbow so he could look at Sehun who was still laid out on his bed on the other side of the room. “You mean, djinns used to be able to use their magic freely?”

“Yeah, but some bastard thought we were too powerful and cursed us so now we have to serve others for our entire existence.” Sehun’s voice wasn’t bitter or annoyed, which surprised Jongin. It was as if the djinn had accepted this fate a long time ago and knew that he couldn’t do anything to help it.

“If you can’t use your magic for yourself then what do you learn here?” Jongin had been wondering that for a while. Most of the species he knew of did regular training here where they practiced mastering whatever abilities they had. If Sehun couldn’t use his magic without the wishes of someone else then what could he practice?

“Other things. I can turn into smoke, but I don’t really need to practice that. I get more electives than most people which is cool.” Jongin could just make out the motion of Sehun shrugging from the weird angle he was at. “I’m basically here because my parents wanted to keep me out of trouble.”

“Is that working?”

“Of course not.”

Jongin’s lips perked up slightly at the corners into a ghost of a smile.

“Vampires have mind control, don’t they?” Sehun asked, directing the conversation towards Jongin. He sat up in bed and leaned back against his headboard, the sheets pooling in his lap. Apparently sleep wasn’t happening quite yet.

“It isn’t really mind control, but more like persuasion,” the vampire explained, “we call it compulsion.”

“Does it work on any species?”

“It’s meant for our prey but pure blooded vampires can use it on made vampires, so it might work on other magical beings too. I’ve never tried it.”

Sehun’s face lit up with excitement. “Try it on me!”

Jongin stared at the djinn a long minute but the excitement never faded. He shrugged. Why not. “You have to come here.”

Quickly abandoning his bed, Sehun crossed the room and plopped himself down on the edge of Jongin’s bed, facing the vampire.

“What do you want me to make you do?”

The djinn leaned in close to Jongin, holding his gaze with his clear brown eyes. “Something I wouldn’t normally do.”

The vampire thought for a moment and couldn’t really come up with anything. He didn’t know Sehun well enough yet to be able to name something the djinn would be opposed to doing. So he just went with something simple that he figured his roommate would most likely not want to do.

Jongin focused on Sehun’s gaze, reaching out with his mind to try and nudge Sehun’s mind with his power. When he thought he might have had a connection, he voiced his command. “Kiss me.”

Sehun’s intent expression turned into one of amusement and he let out a laugh. “You wouldn’t have to compel me to do that.”

Jongin was caught a little bit off guard – by Sehun’s apparent resistance to his compulsion, but also the admission that he would willingly kiss the vampire.

Apparently such a reaction brought Sehun even more amusement and he suddenly became playful. He leaned in closer to Jongin’s face, his eyes alight with mischief. “I could kiss you now if you want.”

Jongin scoffed and scooted back on his bed, putting some distance between them. “No thanks.”

“What’s the problem?” Sehun asked innocently, a wide grin stretched across his face. “You’re hot, I’m hot. Why not?”

Jongin stared right at Sehun and raised his arm to point very sternly at Sehun’s bed. “It was just a joke. Please remove yourself from my bed.”

The djinn did the exact opposite and planted his palms on Jongin’s mattress, bringing his face right up to the vampire’s. Their noses nearly touched. “Give me a goodnight kiss first.”

Jongin couldn’t stop the growl that slipped from his throat as he gripped his comforter and flopped onto his back, yanking the fabric up over his head. Sehun got the hint and got up, chuckling, but of course he didn’t go without leaving a final comment.

“I wouldn’t mind if you growled at me more often either.”

* * *

Chanyeol was literally jolted out of his sleep when something wet and incredibly cold pelted him right in the face. He shot up out of bed, shrieking as his hands desperately patted at his face to try and wipe the freezing wetness off of his skin. It took Chanyeol several moments to figure out just what had hit him and where it had come from.

He had a hunch that it had been a chunk of snow and that the place of origin was somewhere outside of his bedroom window. His still half asleep mind thought it was weird that his window was open but a look outside easily explained the whole situation.

Standing out on the lawn next to the dorms was a small cluster of students. All of them were familiar faces and Chanyeol could easily deduce who was responsible for the rude awakening. Luhan was grinning from ear to ear so he must have been the one who had gotten the window open and Minseok was right next to him, tossing a snowball up into the air, catching it in his palm. The phoenix had to admire his aim at the very least as they were quite a few meters away from the side of the building. His cheeks were flushed from the cold and his red hair was wetly sticking to his forehead. Regular snow didn’t bother him but snow magic almost stung at his skin.

“_Why_?” was all Chanyeol shouted, whining just a little as he stuck his head out of the open window. The sun was shining overhead and there was even the sound of birds chirping. It was a nice Friday morning. Was it still morning? Chanyeol couldn’t tell with how high the sun already was in the sky.

“You and Kris have to join us for a game of soccer,” Minseok explained, jabbing a thumb over his shoulder where Baekhyun and Joonmyun were already kicking a ball back and forth with a tired looking Kyungsoo standing nearby.

Chanyeol got what Minseok was saying but it still didn’t connect to the snowball. “Okay, but why did I have to be woken up like that?”

“Because I felt like it,” Minseok chimed back with a smirk, “plus, I wanted to be as far away from Kris as possible. I’ve heard stories of how much of a nightmare he is when he gets woken up.” The ice sprite saluted. “You have that job. Meet us next to the basketball court in ten!”

Chanyeol glanced back inside his room at the dragon slumbering in his bed. There weren’t many do’s and don’t’s to be discussed between the two of them upon becoming roommates. One of the only points they covered – the one Kris had absolutely stressed – was to _never_ wake the dragon up from his sleep.

The phoenix ducked back into his room and slid his window shut, pausing as his mind conjured up the worse possible scenario on how this wake up could play out. A shiver passed down his spine at the thought of Kris’ powerful reptilian stare. Chanyeol hadn’t experienced it, but he bet that the dragon could be very intimidating if he wanted to be.

He approached his roommate’s bed slowly, cautiously, as if the slightest sound or movement would disturb him. Kris was laid out on his stomach, kind of diagonal on the bed with his head on one corner and his feet hanging a little over the opposite side of the mattress. The bright orange comforter was bunched at his waist, leaving the span of his back and arms curled up under his pillow bare. Patches of gold, iridescent scales crawled up his skin, shimmering with every rise and fall of his chest. He was facing away from Chanyeol, his cheek squished up against his grey pillow cover, completely at peace.

Hesitantly, the phoenix reached out and poked Kris’ shoulder, just barely nudging him. The dragon made a gruff sound in the back of his throat, causing Chanyeol to flinch away in fright, ready to just book it. Minseok had freaked him out big time.

Chanyeol just stood there for good three minutes, staring at Kris’ sleeping form. “Okay, I tried,” he concluded, nodding curtly to himself before scurrying away to his side of the room to get dressed. He could finally wear a t-shirt and a pair of shorts without looking weird. Phoenix bodies were basically fire so temperatures didn’t bother Chanyeol, but he was conscious of wearing weather appropriate clothing from his time living among humans. It was warmer out though, so now he could wear less layers. Pulling a baseball cap over his red hair so he didn’t have to brush or style it, he headed out.

As Chanyeol was entering the front lobby area of the North dorms, he came across Yixing who was herding Sehun and Kai to the doors. The warlock looked like he had been up for hours already, while the other two were a little grumpier looking. Yixing was dressed in a navy tracksuit, Sehun had forgone a shirt, flashing his body jewellery, and Kai made his black long sleeve and joggers look like they were from an Italian fashion magazine, which as far as Chanyeol knew they could have been.

“Are you guys playing soccer too?” Chanyeol asked, jogging over to them.

Yixing turned towards the phoenix, his face breaking out into a smile when he realized who it was. “Hey Yeol. Where’s Kris?”

Chanyeol shook his head. “As far as Minseok knows, I tried waking him up, okay?”

The warlock chuckled and Chanyeol threw an arm over his shoulders, taking his laugh as agreement. Sehun greeted Chanyeol with a slap on the back as he passed in front of the two of them to get to the doors. Kai stayed back, looking reserved and rather disinterested in pretty much everything around him.

Once they were outside, Sehun began walking backward so he could face the warlock and phoenix and chat with them while they crossed the campus to where Minseok was expecting them.

“Is soccer a normal occurrence for you guys?” Chanyeol asked, wanting to know more about what he was about to get into.

“Minseok and Lu are really into it. There aren’t usually this many players though,” Yixing explained.

“This is my first time too,” Sehun said, smoothly maintaining an even pace even while walking backwards. It was as if his feet weren’t even really touching the ground.

“Do you guys play like humans?”

A grin came to Yixing’s face. “Powers are allowed and we place restrictions over certain abilities as we play. Like Lu is only allowed to use his telekinesis powers three times a half.”

That sounded fun, though Chanyeol had no idea how his powers could come in handy. He could completely melt the ball or accidentally burn a fellow player if he wasn’t careful.

He voiced such a concern and Yixing easily assured him. “We’ve already thought of all that. I charmed the ball so it should be able to withstand standard magic attacks and I have the more serious injuries covered. This game is all about letting loose and having some fun.”

“Kai knows all about having fun, don’t you?” Sehun prompted, looking over Chanyeol’s shoulder at the vampire who was bringing up the rear.

Chanyeol glanced behind him just in time to catch Kai’s deadly glare and his lips pulling back from his teeth in a scowl. His fangs gleamed in the midday sun. Apparently Sehun had hit a nerve.

The djinn just laughed, not phased in the slightest by Kai’s threatening demeanour.

There was a shout from behind Sehun and Chanyeol looked over to see Luhan waving at them. It looked to Chanyeol like a makeshift soccer field had been set up on the lawn area next to the basketball court. Boundary lines made of frost had already been drawn onto the grass by Minseok no doubt and it looked like Kyungsoo was at one end of the playing field, raising thin posts of earth out of the very ground to use as the goal.

“Where’s Kris?” was the first thing Minseok voiced upon seeing the group of them.

“I tried and nearly lost my head,” Chanyeol quickly supplied, trying to seem like he really did have a near death experience trying to wake up his roommate.

Minseok didn’t seem to realize the phoenix’s lie as he let out a huff. “We have an odd number of people then.”

“I’ll referee,” Yixing offered diplomatically.

Minseok clapped. “Great. Lu and I are team captains. Lu, you can pick first.”

They went through the list, picking out one player at a time until the teams were divided up evenly. Chanyeol was Minseok’s first pick which felt kind of nice. He hoped to not let his team down. By the end of it, Minseok had Chanyeol, Kai and Baekhyun on his team and Luhan had Joonmyun, Kyungsoo and Sehun on his. Both Kai and Kyungsoo were assigned as goalkeepers for their respective teams.

Yixing stayed just outside of the frosty boundary lines, watching as each team huddled up on their side of the field.

“Okay, Kai and Yeol both don’t have restrictions on their powers yet, so do whatever you can to help. We have to rack up as many points in the first half before we discuss power caps. I can only use my ice powers three times per half. I’m not allowed icing the ball directly though. I’ll be sticking to slicking up the field, so watch your feet. Baekhyun almost blinded someone with his powers one game so he’s banned completely from using magic.”

Chanyeol looked at the elf with wide eyes.

“It was an accident!” Baekhyun defended, letting out a huff. “I have combat training, so I’m pretty agile.”

“Sehun is new too so he’ll be using his abilities to the fullest,” Minseok continued, turning his attention to Kai. “Do you know anything about djinn powers?”

Kai glanced over at the other team who was also huddled on the other side of the field. They were spread out as far as possible so that heightened hearing wouldn’t be used for snooping. “Djinns can only use their magic when granting wishes for another person, and as far as I know there are rules when it comes to that. Sehun isn’t likely to go to that length. The only other thing I know is that he can turn into smoke, but I haven’t personally seen the extent of that ability.”

“Good enough. I take it that it’s similar to how Luhan’s ghost form works. Flight, being able to pass through solid objects, that kind of thing. He’ll probably be limited to three times per half like Lu is.”

“Luhan can use both his ghost form and telekinesis?” Chanyeol asked, finding that a little too much for one person. Luhan must have been a very formable opponent.

Minseok shook his head. “He can only pick one or the other per half. So if he uses telekinesis this half, he can’t use his ghost form until next half.”

Chanyeol made a sound of understanding in the back of his throat.

“What about Joonmyun and Kyungsoo?” Kai asked.

“They have similar restrictions to mine. They can’t touch the ball with their magic, so they’ll most likely manipulate their surroundings. No more than three times per half.”

Baekhyun hunched down closer, bringing his arms up to tug both Chanyeol and Kai down into a tighter knit circle. “What’s our game plan then?”

Minseok looked at the vampire first. “You’re in goal, so use your shadow abilities as much as you need to for blocking.” His icy blue eyes slid to Baekhyun. “You’re playing forward with me, and Yeol,” his eyes met with Chanyeol’s gold, “stay in defence. Your fire could help with keeping the other team back. Think walls of fire.”

Chanyeol’s mouth popped open. _Walls of fire_. That sounded extremely dangerous. Before he could stutter out a refusal, Minseok patted his arm. “You have two water based users nearby. Joon and I won’t let anything get too crazy. Just remember, Yixing will definitely call you if you cover all access to the net, so give the other team some wiggle room.”

They dispersed after that and took up their positions, Minseok and Baekhyun near the halfway line, Kai standing between the two dirt pillars acting as net and Chanyeol somewhere in between.

Yixing met the two team captains at the center circle. The ball was dropped and the game commenced.

Chanyeol watched from his side of the field. It looked like Joonmyun was playing defence, sticking back near Kyungsoo who was in net. Luhan and Sehun were offense, facing off against Minseok and Baekhyun. The ball was in the ice sprite’s possession first and stayed in their opponents’ half of the field for the first little while. This gave Chanyeol a great opportunity to witness how everyone played. In the beginning it seemed like for the most part magic wasn’t being utilized, which made sense since majority of players had restrictions and it was still early in the first half.

Sehun though, being new, didn’t have a single care. Chanyeol watched with wide eyes as the djinn phased between forms, melting into translucent pink mist-like figure and solidifying into a clear person a moment later. Even his sweatpants shifted between the two states of matter. He clearly had experience using his smoke form and it showed in the way he was able to maneuver the ball around people, literally passing through their bodies, while keeping his feet solid against the ball. No one could touch Sehun and pretty soon he was bringing the ball straight towards Chanyeol.

The phoenix was really at a loss on what he could do to stop the djinn. His hands shook at his sides as he hesitated to use his powers. Nothing good ever came out of using his fire. There were too many people around who could be hurt, even if they had superior healing abilities. He couldn’t do it. Instead, he resorted to just using his body, facing Sehun head on. The djinn had a wide gleeful grin on his face as he approached, the ball gliding across the grass in front of him.

“No fire?” It almost sounded like a taunt.

Chanyeol stood his ground. He saw Sehun lean to the left and he compensated with his own step in that direction. It took the phoenix a moment to realize the djinn was faking it, but before Chanyeol could adjust, Sehun managed to slip around him on the right, phasing between forms effortlessly. Chanyeol cursed and went after him but it was too late.

The djinn had made it to the boundary around their net and was facing off against Kai. The vampire had his crimson eyes completely focused on Sehun, as if reading his very soul. The djinn didn’t waste a single moment and shifted his weight, throwing his foot out to strike the ball. The shot looked like it would sail perfectly through the top left corner of the net and it was headed that way but suddenly met a solid body that materialized out of thin air and promptly landed on his side to the left of the net, with the ball held against his chest. Minseok let out a loud whoop behind Chanyeol as Kai got up, stepped up to the goal boundary line and threw the ball up over his head towards Baekhyun. The elf quickly took off with it towards the other half of the field.

Chanyeol caught sight of the vampire’s triumphant smirk, directed right at Sehun before the djinn let out a laugh and quickly headed back to his teammates to assist. The phoenix held a thumb up towards Kai in a congratulatory gesture before turning his attention back to the soccer match.

For the first half of the game, it played out similarly as Sehun was pretty unstoppable with no restrictions. Minseok did manage to slip him up by icing the grass in front of him while he was still a solid person, but the ball was easily snatched up by Luhan who continued bringing it towards Chanyeol’s net. The only person who could defend against Sehun was Kai, who managed to catch quite a few shots. It was almost like the vampire could anticipate where the djinn would aim. The opposing team managed to sink five goals – two by Sehun and the other three by Luhan – by the end of the first half.

Their opponents were skilled, but Minseok and Baekhyun weren’t bad by any means. The ice sprite moved just as quickly with the soccer ball between his feet as he did when sparring against Jongdae. He made sure to use his three chances with his magic to his advantage as well, slipping Sehun up once and lifting a literal wall of ice from the ground to stop Luhan’s and Joonmyun’s advances. It was impressive.

Baekhyun wasn’t lacking either even without his light abilities. The elf had said he had combat training but Chanyeol wasn’t expecting the flips and twisting maneuvers that Baekhyun was utilizing on the field. Once during the game, he flipped himself up over the wall of water Joonmyun was erecting in his path, easily evading it and going for the net.

Chanyeol wasn’t sure what to expect with Kyungsoo. The phoenix thought that the woodland faerie was a little short for a position in net, but quickly Chanyeol’s opinion changed. Kyungsoo wasn’t wearing shoes the entire game, his feet were flush against the grass. When the ball was aimed at the high corner of the net, Kyungsoo used the earth to lift him that extra distance. Once he was even propelled from one net post to the other by a platform of dirt and grass that shot from the ground like a loaded piston. It didn’t take much for Chanyeol to fully understand why Luhan had put the faerie in that position.

Chanyeol’s team was behind by one point when Yixing called the end of the first half. The phoenix hadn’t once used his abilities and Minseok wasn’t too happy about it.

“Why aren’t you using your powers?” Minseok pressed as soon as their team gathered to go over strategy for the second half.

Chanyeol held up his hands in surrender, taking a step back subconsciously. The ice sprite seemed frustrated and even though he was much shorter, Chanyeol wouldn’t put it past him to pounce. Minseok was clearly very passionate about soccer. “I’m not very good at controlling it!”

“You don’t need to control it, just aim it. All of us can take a burn or two.”

Baekhyun clapped the phoenix on the back. “Yixing said to restrict your abilities like Joon and Minseok do, so three times a half. We’re gonna need you out there.”

Chanyeol was still doubtful. “Wouldn’t I get in trouble for scorching the grass?”

“Soo can replace the grass,” was Minseok’s immediate reply. The sprite probably had a response for any kind of excuse Chanyeol could conjure up.

The elf pushed Chanyeol forward a little. “Let us prove to you that nothing will happen. Light up the grass right there,” Baekhyun urged, pointing to a clear spot.

The phoenix stared at him and then at Minseok. He even turned to Kai to see if he could find some support from him but the vampire was stone faced, looking at Chanyeol expectantly. With a heavy exhale, the red-head turned to the open space of grass and focused on a spot. He could aim easily when stationary, that wasn’t his concern. Grass was flammable and fire was a very unpredictable element. Joonmyun and Minseok were nearby though. Surely water and ice produced by faeries could match phoenix fire, right?

Letting out a frustrated breath, Chanyeol held out his right hand, palm facing outwards. It wasn’t hard. Fire had a mind of its own, easily coming forth with little prompting from the phoenix. He could feel the familiar heat at his fingertips and with a simple swipe with his hand, a hot blaze of fire lit up on the field before him. The flames rose high, feeding off of the warm midday air to form into a cackling red wall about three feet long.

There was a loud whistle from Chanyeol’s right and with a quick glance he could see that even the other team was watching.

“There’s that famed fire!” Sehun cheered, grinning from ear to ear.

Chanyeol let out a bit of a laugh. Seeing as no one around him had a single bit of worry, his own nerves felt unnecessary. He looked at Minseok, expecting him to step forward to hit it with ice or snow or something, but the sprite didn’t move. His eyes found Joonmyun next but even he was just staring at the dancing flames.

“Would someone please put it out?” Chanyeol exclaimed, his voice coming out a little shrill. The wall of fire was very steadily getting bigger as the minutes ticked by and the people who could help were just standing there as if in a trance.

“Is it true that it doesn’t hurt you?” Baekhyun suddenly asked, directing the question towards Chanyeol.

The phoenix let out an exasperated sigh. Of course the elf was asking questions. Honestly, the phoenix couldn’t really complain considering he asked a lot of questions himself. “I was born in it. I only feel the heat, but it isn’t uncomfortable.”

“Prove it,” Baekhyun challenged, his golden eyes alight with curiosity.

The ‘no’ that left Chanyeol’s lips was immediate, and the phoenix even went so far as to step away from the flames. “I might be fireproof but my clothes aren’t.”

Baekhyun found the notion hilarious, letting out a few loud, full-bellied laughs. Chanyeol thought the elf might even fall to the ground and roll in his laughter.

Joonmyun took pity on the phoenix who stared at him pleadingly. The nymph stepped forward, throwing his arms out at his sides and bringing them together as if he was about to embrace someone. When his palms met, he opened them outward and a strong stream of water spewed from them, dousing the flames. Steam rose from the fire as they sizzled and hissed, quickly succumbing to the water. All that remained was a wet, blackened spot of earth.

Before Chanyeol could even turn to Kyungsoo to ask about fixing the damaged grass, the scorched ground began to bloom with little sprouts of new grass that very quickly spread across the burned soil. The dirt itself even changed, swirling around in random patterns as it lightened in colour before Chanyeol’s very eyes. Mouth agape, the phoenix looked over his shoulder at Kyungsoo. The faerie hadn’t even moved. He was several feet away, standing with his hands at his sides, eyes trained on the spot Chanyeol had set ablaze.

“How-” Chanyeol started but cut off when Baekhyun’s hand slapped his back, rocking the phoenix forward from the force of it.

“Awesome Yeol! Let’s see that on the field, ‘kay?” The elf grinned with all of his pearly teeth and jogged towards the center line of the soccer field.

“Walls of fire, walls of fire,” Minseok chanted, giving Chanyeol a double thumbs up before joining Baekhyun. Kai returned to the net and without another word about it, the second half of the game started.

This half Chanyeol got to see what Luhan’s telekinesis was all about. Unlike those of them that had elemental magic, Luhan was allowed to actually touch the ball with his powers. His telekinesis allowed him to move objects without having to come in contact with them, which meant that there were three times during the game that the ball seemed to suddenly have a mind of its own. One moment Minseok would be guiding the soccer ball towards their opponents’ net and then the ball would abruptly veer to the left for Joonmyun to kick far away from the goal.

Sehun was getting far less chances to score this half too with his newly restricted powers. It was much easier to intercept the djinn when he was a solid person. Not wanting to be scolded by Minseok, Chanyeol actually used his powers during the game. Sehun was quickly approaching their net, the soccer ball gliding across the grass as he went. Chanyeol knew that the moment he rushed forward to meet the djinn, he would collide with nothing but air if Sehun chose to use his smoke form. So instead, Chanyeol stood his ground a number of feet away and threw out his hands to light up the grass with fire.

The flames roared up in a long blazing wall that caused Sehun to actually stumble back startled and fall on his ass. The ball was left to roll towards the flames without someone to steer it and Chanyeol took his chance to retrieve it, easily passing through his own barrier of heat and sending the ball towards Baekhyun with a single kick.

“Chanyeol, you’re on fire.”

The phoenix looked towards the djinn, who was still sprawled out on the ground. “Thanks,” he replied with a grin.

Sehun shook his head and pointed at Chanyeol’s leg. “No, you’re _actually_ on fire.”

It took the red-head another half a second to register the smell of burning fabric – a smell he was very familiar with unfortunately – and he let out a gruff “fuck” before dropping to the ground and rolling. Chanyeol was pretty sure he could hear Sehun laughing nearby.

A shriek left the phoenix when he was suddenly hit with a blast of freezing wetness and he stopped his frantic attempts at putting out the flames to find the culprit. The sensation was definitely familiar to him and sure enough Minseok was there, putting out Chanyeol’s wall of fire with jets of snow that painted the damaged earth in white. The phoenix’s clothes were completely wet, sticking to his body with melting snow. Only one leg of his shorts had been on fire, but Minseok had hit _all of him_ with his ice magic.

Chanyeol looked at him accusingly and the sprite grinned without an ounce of shame. “I had to make sure I got all of it. Great block by the way.”

The phoenix sputtered as Minseok suddenly turned tail to go assist with the game that was still happening on the other side of the field. Chanyeol’s annoyance was simmering quite literally as he increased his body heat to a temperature that would evaporate the water absorbed by the fabric of his clothes. Steam rose off of him in waves and a minute later he was picking himself up off of the grass bone dry.

That was the only opportunity Chanyeol got to use his magic, but it was enough. Their team was ahead by one point when Yixing called an end to the game.

Minseok let out a triumphant whoop and Baekhyun literally ran at Chanyeol, catching him in a one armed grab and swinging him around. “Let’s go have a celebratory meal!”

Chanyeol looked around at what everyone else was doing. It seemed like only Baekhyun was interested in food. Joonmyun, Luhan, and Yixing were talking about swimming which was not an option Chanyeol was going to even entertain. Kyungsoo and Minseok were at one end of their soccer field, removing any damage to the lawn. Chanyeol could help them out. Sehun had yelled out some sort of goodbye and was jogging to catch up to Kai who was already headed in the direction of the dorms. Maybe he should go back with them and spend his day off practicing his music?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poll can be found here  
https://www.asianfanfics.com/story/view/1374885/7


	6. “Maybe its Cause the Fish Know They’re Dinner.”

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chanyeol works on creating new friendships and Jongin questions the one friendship he currently has.

Chanyeol remembered that he had wanted to ask Kyungsoo about his powers and he figured now was as good a chance as any. He wiggled his way out of Baekhyun’s hold and threw a thumb back over his shoulder, gesturing to the two faeries behind him. “I think I’m gonna stick around and help dismantle the field. Let’s meet up after for food.”

“You better be in the cafeteria in thirty minutes,” Baekhyun warned as a way of saying goodbye for the time being.

Chanyeol shot him a thumbs up and jogged over to where Minseok and Kyungsoo were. He passed by the ice sprite who was whistling while he worked some magic over the lines of frost. The parts he worked on rapidly began melting as he went along. Chanyeol casually – or at least he thought it was casual – strolled over to the makeshift goal posts which Kyungsoo was currently undoing.

The woodland faerie had his hands at his sides and only his gaze – which was trained on one of the posts – gave any sign to him using his powers. The post slowly sunk back into the ground as if the earth had never been disturbed in the first place. 

It wasn’t until those vibrant green eyes were trained on Chanyeol’s that the phoenix realized that he didn’t have the faintest clue as to what to say to the other. Kyungsoo didn’t talk very much so engaging in conversation with him wasn’t as easy as it was with someone like Baekhyun for example. Chanyeol scrambled mentally for some kind of conversation starter, feeling more and more at a loss the longer those emerald eyes looked at him.

“I noticed you didn’t wear shoes while playing.” _What a dumb conversation starter_.

Chanyeol began to berate himself in his head when the corners of Kyungsoo’s full lips turned up a little at the corners into a soft smile. Chanyeol followed the faerie’s gaze until the two of them were looking down at Kyungsoo’s small bare feet. His toes wiggled a little against the short green grass and the small action immediately brightened Chanyeol’s worries. It was cute.

“It’s easier to control my magic with my skin touching the earth.”

“Is that how you could repair the grass from a distance?”

Kyungsoo nodded. “Nature is all connected.”

Chanyeol was really impressed. If faeries like Kyungsoo could channel their magic through the earth then their powers must have been pretty limitless while they were on land. “You must be an absolute badass in a fight.”

The phoenix had expected some sort of rebuttal – there was no way Kyungsoo had ever been in a fight before – or maybe even a laugh at how funny the idea was. All he got was a shrug before the woodland faerie began walking across the remains of their soccer field, his feet sinking into the plush grass with every step. Chanyeol followed after him like a pestering shadow.

“So if you’re connected with nature and all, can you talk with animals?”

It was meant as more of a joke than anything. Chanyeol was really trying here. He was pleasantly surprised when Kyungsoo nodded. Faeries were just overflowing with cool powers that were actually helpful or just overall awesome. The phoenix was extremely jealous.

“All animals?”

Another nod.

“Even ants?”

Nod.

“Can nymphs talk to fish?”

“No.” Okay, at least he got a word.

The phoenix tried again with another joke. “Maybe its cause the fish know they’re dinner.”

He got a smile this time as Kyungsoo approached the other net posts, staring at them until they too sunk back into the ground. Silence quickly followed with the woodland faerie making no effort to continue their chatting.

“You don’t talk much, do you?” Chanyeol said, at a loss with the conversation. Kyungsoo was a hard individual to read and the phoenix was actually struggling to find topics to bring up that might actually get Kyungsoo to say more than three words.

The faerie kept his emerald gaze trained on the spot of grass where there had once been a tower of earth. “Perhaps I just don’t have much to say.” His voice was still as soft as it always was, but there was something else there. Something that resembled the bone chilling loneliness Chanyeol had felt as a new phoenix clawing his way out of the smoldering ashes of his parent.

Chanyeol was going to question what Kyungsoo’s words meant when Minseok joined them, bringing up the topic of food and effectively steering the conversation onto lighter matters.

* * *

Saturday started much different than the day before had. For one Chanyeol wasn’t rudely awoken by a cold, wet snowball to the face. Plus the phoenix got to sleep in closer to noon. Of course his roommate still managed to sleep longer than him. Luckily Chanyeol didn’t have to wake him up himself. The dragon seemed to have an internal clock for certain things and woke up exactly half an hour before they had to meet up with the basketball club.

Kris had an actual basketball jersey on, in flashy yellow. When Chanyeol asked about the names “Lakers” and “Bryant” printed on it in purple, Kris launched into an excited retelling of the history of the Los Angeles Lakers and famous human player Kobe Bryant. He seemed to be a fan. Chanyeol listened whole-heartedly to his friend as it wasn’t every day that the dragon got this animated while he spoke. He was pretending to shoot an invisible ball and doing fancy footwork around Chanyeol with his long legs along with his story the entire trip to the court.

Chanyeol had asked about the captain of the club but all Kris revealed to him was that the captain and co-captain “fought like cats and dogs”. The phoenix wasn’t entirely sure what that phrase meant but he had heard humans use it before. When prompted, Kris merely said “you’ll see” with an amused grin on his face.

It didn’t take long for Chanyeol to realize what the dragon meant.

A short but sharp whistle sound drew the attention of everyone lingering around the basketball court. A slender dark haired female stood on the second row of the nearby bleachers with a hip cocked. She let the whistle slip from between her lips and hang loosely by its cord around her neck. “Welcome newcomers and returning students to the first practice of the term. I’m your co-captain Kang Jihyun.”

The male standing next to her stepped up onto the third row of seats, towering over Jihyun with both his natural height and the added foot from the bleacher. “And I’m your amazing captain, Choi Minho! Welcome newbies!” He ran a hand through his fluffy chestnut hair, a very open, inviting grin on his face.

Jihyun didn’t even glance at him. “Exodus academy doesn’t play against any other schools, so this club is more of an extracurricular than an actual sports team. To make up for that, we play a competitive game at the end of the term and split up the club into two teams for that. We’ll be keeping an eye on any noticeable players and considering them for role as captain for each competing team, so play your best every practice.”

“We’ll be scouting for potential team captains so kick ass every practice!” Minho chimed, basically reiterating what Jihyun had just said. Chanyeol could swear that his grin had morphed into something that seemed a little more amused and taunting.

The co-captain’s eyebrow twitched, but besides that she still gave the captain no attention. She stepped up to the same row of bleachers that Minho was standing on and then up onto the next and final row, standing at the very top of the wooden structure. The extra height gave her an inch or two on Minho. “All-in-all, this is a place to have fun and play basketball. No magic is allowed on the court and human forms are required at all times. Let’s have fun this term.”

“No magic, human forms, blah blah blah. Let’s have fun!” Minho repeated with an enthusiastic howl at the end. _Werewolf_, Chanyeol’s mind noted.

This seemed to be the end of Jihyun’s patience for she whirled on the captain, her green cat eyes holding pure fury. “_I just said that_!” She hissed, her hands curling up into claws at her sides.

Minho didn’t look phased at all as he turned to Jihyun and measured her stare with his own dark eyes, smoothly stepping up onto the top bench as well and once again towering over her. His grin was teetering on triumphant.

The tense air between them was nearly tangible. Chanyeol honestly wasn’t sure if they were about to violently make-out or Jihyun was going to claw out Minho’s eyes. There was definitely a sexual tension there among the anger and amusement. The entire team – new recruits and returning – stood before their two captains completely silent, just watching with baited breath for something to happen.

“Cats and dogs?” Chanyeol very quietly whispered to Kris, leaning in towards the dragon so as to not be overheard. Hopefully everyone was too focused on the showdown happening on the bleachers to be paying attention to them.

“Nekomata and werewolf,” Kris whispered back, “we have a running bet on when they’re gonna sleep together.”

A cat demon and canine shape shifter. They _literally_ fought like cats and dogs.

If there was some sort of silent conversation happening between the two captains Chanyeol completely missed it, but suddenly Jihyun was turning away with a huff and a rather dramatic hair flip. The movement was either aided by cat-like grace or she had lots of practice for it didn’t look weird at all, followed by her stomp down the rows of bleachers. “Let’s play!” She demanded, blowing into her whistle again to really drive the command home.

They split into little groups of four or five just to pass the ball around and get used to maneuvering. Kris clasped hands with a blonde elf with a pleasant smile, bringing it in to pat each other’s backs like Chanyeol had seen humans do before. The elf was introduced as Lee Minhyuk and he joined the dragon and phoenix’s pair.

Two more newcomers were added to their little trio with the warm encouragement of Minhyuk. Chanyeol had a little bit of a mental realization upon seeing how Kris and Minhyuk interacted. The dragon was a quieter person who only really spoke when he was addressed or when he was really comfortable with a person. He surrounded himself with friendly, open people though – Minhyuk, Luhan, even Chanyeol. It was interesting and made Chanyeol wonder if there was any sort of reason behind it, or if Kris even realized it himself.

The phoenix apparently got a little too lost in his own thoughts for he was suddenly startled by the orange ball flying by his face. He blinked, startled. “What?”

“Sorry, I thought you were ready,” apologized one of the newcomers. Kim Mingyu had introduced himself as a kapre, which was a species of tree creature. It really could have been anyone’s guess as he was as tall as both Kris and Chanyeol and his skin was textured like bark.

“I’ll get the ball,” offered their fifth group member, a faerie named Kim Hyunjin. She ran off, her feet bounding across the court and to the surrounding field as if she were as light as a feather and was being carried by the breeze. Chanyeol was very curious about the vibrant violet flower petals that were literally dripping from her midnight black hair and he hazarded a guess that her species of faerie had a connection to nature.

Both Mingyu and Hyunjin were first years like Chanyeol and the phoenix quickly found out that he and Mingyu were in the same Human History class. Maybe he could introduce the kapre to Jongin. More friends for the vampire wouldn’t hurt. He was always so closed off and sometimes prickly. It really only made the phoenix want to get closer to him.

Chanyeol was eager to make friends with pretty much anyone. It chased the loneliness away.

* * *

Jongin had been hoping his roommate was off socializing somewhere and wouldn’t be back for a while, but of course the vampire had no such luck.

He had been very cleverly avoiding Sehun the entire morning and well into the afternoon. Jongin had pretended to sleep for the two hours Sehun had spent doing his ritualistic stretching in the middle of their shared room. The moaning and grunting was so excessive that Jongin was nearly positive the djinn was fully aware of his state of consciousness. Sehun gave no sign of it though when he left their room without any sort of notice of where he was going or how long he would be gone.

The next few hours were spent going over some readings from class, intermittent interruptions from his roommate which Jongin saved himself from with a hasty shadow walk from their room to the floor below them. He didn’t dare return to their room until he saw Sehun emerge from the front doors of the dorm through an upstairs window.

Yes, he was being a little excessive in his avoiding, but the vampire simply didn’t want to face Sehun. The djinn didn’t let things go and somehow he concocted clever ways of integrating the teasing into conversations that had no correlation.

The whole kiss thing was his current source of teasing.

The mishap on Friday that had led to the two roommates talking about their respective abilities had also created some weirdness between them. This weirdness was felt by Jongin, and Jongin alone it seemed. Sehun on the other hand had turned it into an excuse to blatantly bother the vampire and get some kind of sick amusement from it.

“So my roommate _is_ home.”

Jongin’s hands went still, gripping onto the hem of the t-shirt he had just finished pulling over his body. Going to hide at the athletics centre with the intention of using one of the private dance rooms was the plan for Jongin, but of course the djinn had to spoil that too. He was so focused on picking up the sound of Sehun’s distinct footfall in the hall that he wasn’t paying attention to his other senses.

The djinn could just float through walls. 

“Aw man, I missed out on the great vampire prince shirtless,” Sehun commented, a bit of a whine to his voice. His dark eyes were very pointedly trained on the vampire’s waist, as if his stare could magically reveal what was hidden underneath the thin fabric of Jongin’s t-shirt.

Jongin stared at him blankly for a moment. He was still a little slow with his comebacks. “I think this classifies as sexual harassment.”

A smirk curled the corners of Sehun’s mouth. “It’s sexual _admiration_.”

“Completely unwanted admiration then,” Jongin muttered, picking up the duffle bag he had packed with an extra change of clothes and a bottle of warm blood in case he wanted a snack during practice.

The djinn seemed to clue in that his roommate was in the process of getting ready to step out. “Are you going to the studio?”

“Yes, now if you’d excuse me.” The vampire quickly ducked around Sehun and completely ignored the “I’m coming too!” as he slipped from the room. If the djinn wanted to practice too that was his own prerogative, but Jongin wasn’t going to wait for him and subject himself to teasing the entire walk to the athletics centre.

He wasn’t quite ready to try shadow walking again either, so a brisk walk was the only mode of transportation that he was able to utilize. Luckily his wing of the dorms was pretty close to the athletics centre so Jongin only had to pass the campus shop and he would soon be in the safety of one of the dance rooms.

Not soon enough though.

Sehun didn’t need sustenance of any kind as he didn’t eat or drink. He also preferred dancing in nothing but a pair of sweats which he wore to and from the dance studio, meaning he didn’t need to pack a bag or really do much of anything to prep for practice.

The djinn caught up to the vampire before he even made it to the split in the paved pathway. Sehun had merely changed into a pair of baggy navy joggers and surprisingly was wearing a white tank top that covered up most of his chest. The neckline was pretty low and the armholes dropped down to Sehun’s waist, showing off a good chunk of his ribs on either side, but it was a big step above the mesh stuff he usually sported.

“What? Are you disappointed that I decided to put on a shirt today?” Sehun’s voice was light with that playful tone that seemed to be a staple of his, at least when it came to Jongin. “Don’t worry, it’ll probably come off pretty quickly. You can even help if you want.”

Jongin stared at the djinn for a long moment, coming to a complete stop in the middle of the walkway that lead to the centre. He was trying to figure out the true intentions behind Sehun’s words because he was getting steadily more suggestive in his teasing and Jongin didn’t know how to take it. The vampire was simultaneously trying to concoct a proper comeback to such comments, but his red eyes caught sight of the giant clip Sehun had perched on his head. The black barrette was in stark contrast to the pale pink strands of hair it was holding back, leaving Sehun’s entire forehead uncovered for once.

It made him look older, more serious.

It was also pretty funny looking with the few unruly chunks of hair that stuck up like a sort of halo around his head, untamed by the clip. 

Jongin actually had to suppress a snicker.

“I like the hairdo.”

Sehun’s lips quirked up into a more genuine looking smile. “You should try it sometime.” He let out a sudden laugh, as if something funny occurred to him. “You’d look like that warlock who was famous in the human world, the one with the crazy white hair. What was his name?” He pondered it for a minute. “Albert something.”

Jongin’s face contorted as he realized just who Sehun was likening him to. “I do not resemble Albert Einstein.”

Another hearty laugh escaped the djinn. “You already have that stern expression. You just need the thick mustache.”

The vampire was not amused and merely continued his quick trek to the athletics centre.

“C’mon you know I’m kidding!” Sehun easily caught up with a couple long strides.

The djinn was really grating on Jongin’s nerves. Sehun was either insulting him or making sexual comments towards him. There was no consistency and it seemed like there wasn’t any genuinity either. The djinn behaved just like the fog he could shift into – fluid, unpredictable, wild.

Jongin pushed open the door, stepping into the small front lobby of the athletics centre. There were various bulletin boards displayed on the walls, covered in notices and advertisements for clubs and activities on campus. A couple students were milling about, getting a snack from the nearby vending machine or lounging on the plush sofas and armchairs they had taking up one side of the room. Jongin cut through, brushing past a centaur a little too close and having his bag ripped from his shoulder as it got caught on the other student’s belt.

The bag hit the floor and the distinct sound of glass shattering rang through the large room. Jongin watched slowly as a dark red puddle began to form around his duffle as his food slowly soaked through the fabric and leaked out onto the tiled floor. His spare clothes were probably ruined.

His stomach bubbled up with some ugly emotion as his eyes remained trained on the warm blood slowly creeping along the edges of the tiles, as if the substance itself was alive, reaching out with spindly arms. He just wanted to have a nice quiet afternoon moving freely with some music.

“Hey sorry ‘bout that,” the centaur started, reaching out at a hand. “Are you okay?”

The hand was probably meaning to provide some help or show some concern but to Jongin in that moment, it was nothing but a threat. The vampire whirled on the centaur, snarling with his fangs bared and crimson eyes blazing. The other student was so startled by the hostility that he stepped back a little, his hooves clicking against the tile.

“Whoa, it was a mistake dude!” The centaur huffed, his defined biceps tensing as if readying for a fight. His long dark tail flicked nervously behind him as his face watched the vampire cautiously.

“Kai!” The sound of his name and familiar scent of his roommate snapped Jongin out of whatever feral haze he had been in and made him realize just where he was and just how many eyes were on him.

Whispers nipped at his ears – ‘_Abomination’_ – ‘_Murderer_’ – ‘_Monster_’ – words he hadn’t heard for decades, but the eyes watching him were all saying the same thing. They were all silently judging him, labelling him. He needed to get away from the eyes.

Jongin dropped his hands to his sides, not having realized that they were curled into claws and his shoulders slumped as the red faded away from the edges of his vision. He closed his eyes and ignored Sehun, who was asking him something. It sounded like he was underwater and without hesitation, Jongin just let the shadows swallow him whole. There was no solid destination in his mind as he traveled, only to get away.

The vampire was fortunate that he ended up somewhere familiar. Really he was fortunate just to have shadow walked and come out in one piece. It was dangerous to travel without a clear destination. One could get lost within the empty, dark realm. Jongin stumbled his way out of the shadows and into one of the dance studios which were located just down a hall from where he had been.

At least the eyes were gone and the whispers seemed to have gone quiet as well. He was finally alone.

With a shaky exhale, Jongin sunk to his knees and tried to make sense of what had just happened.

He was more composed than that. He had been taught better restraint and manners. He was pure-blood royalty and he shouldn’t have allowed himself to drop down to the savage level of a fledgling, willing to tear apart anything that moved or breathed wrong.

He wasn’t really hungry so why had the bloodlust clouded his senses so bad? He had been annoyed with Sehun but he was always annoyed with Sehun. The djinn was really pushing his buttons though, leaving Jongin confused and feeling like he was being played with. Why did he care though? He had been feeling used and manipulated his whole life, so why was it affecting him now? Why with the djinn?

Maybe he really did need something to eat.

His ears picked up on the sound of movement outside the door to the room he was currently in and it opened just enough for a head to pop in. Jongin had thought for a second that it might have been his roommate and was prepared to snap at him to take a hike. But instead of a mop of pink hair, the head was framed by long brown hair and the facial features were classically female.

“My apologies,” the woman murmured, her voice soft and dark eyes downcast. Jongin didn’t recognize her at all, but his nose immediately told him that this was a made vampire. “I don’t mean to intrude, my Prince, I just… I brought you something. May I come in?”

Jongin was hesitant but clearly from the vampire’s mannerisms and way of speech, she was well aware of who he was. She was asking permission of a royal and Jongin could at the very least hear her out.

“You may,” he said, moving his legs around so he was at least seated a little more properly. It was inappropriate for a pure-blood to be kneeling in the presence of a lower class. Jongin shuffled over a little so he could lean up against the mirror that covered one of the walls from floor to ceiling.

The made vampire stepped into the room, gently shutting the door behind her. She had a metal bottle clutched in her hand and Jongin could easily smell the scent of blood mingling with the smell of aluminum. The stranger dropped down into a ninety-degree bow, holding the pose as she introduced herself. “My name is Jung Krystal, my Prince. I was reborn fifty years ago within the Kim Clan.”

Jongin made a noise in the back of his throat to signify that her introduction was good enough. His family’s blood was what had given her new life which probably evoked an even stronger urge to serve. “Please address me as a fellow student. I am no prince here, merely Kai.”

Krystal straightened up and lifted her gaze from the floor, looking right at Jongin. Her eyes were wide and pretty, framed by dark lashes. “I witnessed the spill in the lobby and thought I might offer up the extra blood I had. It’s O positive. I hope you don’t mind.” She held out the metal bottle in her hands.

Jongin raised his own hand, palm overturned, silently instructing her to approach. He wasn’t some kind of god. He didn’t want to be of royal blood while at this school. He appreciated the gesture, even if it was from a fellow vampire who probably felt obligated to serve her prince.

Krystal closed the distance between them and Jongin was surprised but pleased to see that she was no longer hunched as if she had to appear smaller while in his presence. She also handed the bottle of blood to him rather casually. It was like those few words from him had completely stripped away any sort of formal behaviour.

“Thank you,” Jongin murmured, setting the offered bottle down on the floor next to him. He was expecting her to leave after having done what she felt obligated to do, but she remained standing about a foot away from his outstretched legs.

She looked like she was considering something, her lips pursed slightly in thought.

“You may speak.” Jongin didn’t want to have to give her permission, but perhaps the words would push her to speak her mind.

“I never thought pure-bloods would succumb to bloodlust like normal vampires do.”

The sentence took Jongin completely off guard. He didn’t know whether he found it rude that she would speak so flippantly about the higher class or if he found it bold and interesting. She didn’t even offer up an apology for her thoughts.

“You aren’t that much different than us, are you?” she continued.

Krystal seemed to clue into the confused look she was getting from the vampire prince for she let out a nervous little laugh and brushed her hair behind her ear. “I don’t mean for that to sound bad or anything. Honestly, it’s kind of nice to see. I’ve been watching you for a while and I’ve started noticing these things.” She pursed her lips again. “Though I don’t know if it’s all pure-bloods or just you.” It was like Krystal was just speaking her thoughts out loud, not really thinking about her words before they came out.

Jongin’s eyebrows furrowed. “You’ve been watching me?”

Krystal’s eyes widened almost comically. “That sounds really creepy, sorry, I didn’t mean it like that! I’m not stalking you, I swear. I’ve just seen you come in here to practice with your friend and sometimes I watch through the window.” She jabbed her thumb over her shoulder, gesturing to the little rectangle window cut into the door, providing a glimpse into the hallway. “Your dancing is mesmerizing. I’ve just been admiring.”

_”It’s sexual admiration.”_ Sehun’s voice echoed in his head and Jongin let out a breathy little laugh. She at least sounded genuine. “Thank you.”

Krystal caught her bottom lip between her teeth, her fangs pressing into the pink flesh. “I didn’t dream of ever asking, but since you insist on being treated like another student, why not right? Would you perhaps consider going out with me sometime? We could do whatever, just hanging out, but like as a date thing.”

The pure-blood had been asked similar things by a couple people on campus, but he hadn’t at all expected a vampire, who knew the hold social classes had on the vampire community, to ask him. She was a bold one, wasn’t she?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poll for this chapter can be found here! https://www.asianfanfics.com/story/view/1374885/8


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